The Chosen Few
by ClockWork369
Summary: The sequel to "I AM HUMAN!," Entity still remains a threat to the band of mutant survivors. 18 years have passed since then, both sides' presence go undetected. It isn't until a new generation steps up and shows the world their existence again, but it's far from peaceful as Entity reappears, stronger than ever.
1. Ch 1 Accident

The wind blows stronger than normal. Out in the middle of a field of wheat, by the road, sits a small home. By it stands a adolescent girl, having short, blonde hair as it covers her right eye. She wheres light jeans and an oversized jacket where her hands barely pop out of the sleeves, feeling the cold wind blow by. As she holds a graduation cap in her hands, she looks off into the open space, pondering what to do now.

"Well," someone says behind her. She turns to see an old man sitting in a wheelchair. She lets out a sigh before saying "well what, uncle?"

He lets out a much deeper sigh before answering. "Look at you, finally out of college. The world is open to you now, just like it was for me."

She lets out a small chuckle. "Uncle, you never went to college, this is a family business you have."

"Yeah, well…," he finds it hard to speak. "Listen, I know it's been hard on you and… your parents…," he lets out a sigh, " do you really have to go? I won't hold it against you, but…"

"Uncle, thank you for everything. Your the only family I have left and… none of what happened was your fault."

They're reminded of a tragic event, but now isn't a time for sadness. He takes in a deep breath. "Just promise me that you'll be safe on your own, okay?"

She walks over to him and hugs him. "Don't worry, Joan promised to let me stay with her until I find a job. I'll visit when I can."

"Promise?"

"Of course. Besides, I think your nurse is planning on finding new work, I would after caring for you for so long."

They laugh for a while before she grabs her bags and begins loading them into her car. She pulls out and looks to her uncle one last time, giving him a farewell.

She drives for a couple of hours, the light dying down with nothing else as she's the only car in the area. She looks to the road in a dazed state, finding the lack of detail or anything around utterly boring. She's snapped out of it when her phone rings. She taps the answer button and lets it go on speaker so she can stay focused on the road. "Hey girl, freedom at last," the voice is loud with excitement.

"Hey Joan, it's nice to be done," she answers, "but I might be running late at the airport."

"What?!" Joan answers with some annoyance. "You said you wouldn't take too long… wait…," Joan takes a long pause, "Elizabeth P. Dewitt, is a man holding you up?" she asks in an all too mocking tone.

"Joan, you know I don't have a boyfriend," she replies in an exhausted tone. "I just… miscalculated this drive. It's hard to make guesses when everything looks the same."

Joan lets out a loud sigh. "Fine, just hurry up so I can get you. I'm not wasting money for a hotel out here."

"I'll try, and just call me Liz, you know I don't like my real name."

She continues talking to her friend on the phone, unaware of the one car in front of her heading her way. Liz barely notices passing it. Suddenly, as she's about to pass it, she hits a large crack on the road. The jolt causes her to spin out of control and smash into the other car. She notices all too late as the car tumbles after being hit head on by the other car.

It's all black for her. Then, she awakens to see what happened. She jolts up from the ground and finds the car totaled, lying on its side with the roof smashed up and a massive dent in the front. She looks on in horror, not noticing the man behind her, that is, until he speaks. "I see that you're awake."

She turns and jumps up away in shock. "W-who are you?!" she asks frantically.

"I'm the guy you crashed into," he replies in a nonchalant tone, as if he doesn't grasp what has happened.

"Oh my god," she gasps in shock, "I'm… I'm sorry for what happened. I thought that…" he stops her before she continues.

"It's fine. We're all right, at least."

She looks more closely at him. He's a tall man, standing taller than anyone she has met. He wears a simple, long sleeve, button up shirt with jeans. His hair is combed with three locks spiked up on the front. He gives off a vacant stare, as if not focused. However, she notices drops of blood falling from his arm. She notices a large cut on his left arm. "Oh my god, you're hurt?!"

He looks down to his injury. "It's fine."

"Fine?!" she replies with shock, "we have to get you to a hospital!"

"I think we should exchange insurance first, maybe," he answers with no care to his injury.

Liz begins looking for her phone frantically, only to notice him holding it in front of her. She grabs it and tries calling. He gives a quick cough, "you should look closer."

She looks at it and finds the screen smashed up. "Damn it," she lets out under her breath, "listen… uh…"

"My name is Dimitri, and yours?"

"Dimitri, we need to call someone, you could get an infection or…"

"Look, miss…"

"My name is Elizabeth, but that doesn't matter because…"

She stops as she sees the wound starting to close. She stares at him for a moment before continuing.

"Wait… AM I DEAD?! IS THIS HEAVEN BECAUSE I DIED IN…"

"CALM DOWN," he says in a loud voice to stop her. She looks to him with concern. "You're not dead, I'm just not human."

"What?" she's too confused to understand this. Suddenly, he begins to remove the contacts covering his real eyes, revealing the real milky blue colors, no visible pupils or any detail. "See?"

She lets out a quick chuckle. "I did die, now I'm being mocked by an angel or something."

"Wrong again, I'm just someone who doesn't care if you know."

She sits down for about ten minutes, trying to process what is happening. "Okay, your saying I'm not dead. I just crashed into some alien disguised as a human driving in the middle of the night in an open road?"

"Firstly, I'm a mutate," he answers with unyielding ease and calm, "secondly, I haven't received a thanks for saving you from the crash."

She lets out a sigh. "Thank you, I guess. Is this the part where you say I'm on some hidden camera show?" she begins waving jazz hands.

"...You're welcome," he begins walking away, "now, I called 911 earlier before your phone actually died. They'll be here shortly and I'll be on my way," he places the contacts back in his eyes.

"Wait," he turns to hear her calling him, "where are you going?"

"I'm off to Ralton City."

"Ralton?" she says with curiosity, "I'm heading there too, but… you're not just gonna walk there, are you? It's two states away. Or are you hitching a ride with the camera man somewhere?"

He remains unphased by her mocking remarks. "Well, I have a plane ticket, so I just need to make it to the airport," he continues his walk.

She begins thinking before stopping him again. "Wait, I'm heading there too. If you wait, you could hitch a ride with me."

He turns to her with only a hint of surprise. "I'm sorry, but did the fact that I'm not human slip your mind?"

"I know, but…," she looks him over one more time, "you don't really scare me. Besides, you could just be pranking me still or something. Just another pair of contacts or something, and maybe a fake cut with a bunch of ketchup."

He sees she's finding it hard to believe his story, but he rolls with it. "Well, if you're okay with me tagging along, I don't see why not."

They end up having their cars towed away and catching a ride in an Uber. Dimitri managed to pull her luggage out of the wreck without it sustaining damage, aside from dents in the bag and a cracked wheel. They both sit in the back seats as the driver heads to their destination. "Jesus," she begins, "I never thought an uber would be this far out."

"Well, I guess this guy has the most relaxed job then," he answers her.

She looks back to where the crash happened before turning back to him. "I'm sorry, again, about your car."

"To tell you the truth, it wasn't mine, not that I stole it. I just got it today."

"Well, Mr. Mutate," she gives are quotes, "why is someone like you going to Ralton?"

He looks to her for a moment, showing his continuous lack of expression. "Well, long story short, me and my cousin decided to go on a trip abroad, see the world and what not. You can imagine my dad not wanting me to do this, so we managed to sneak off and leave no trace behind."

"And?" she finds this bizarre. "What were you planning on doing, and why your cousin, that seems random, almost like a lie."

He lets out a chuckle. "To be honest, he's felt more like a brother to me, seeing as we spent a lot of time together as kids. As for this, we thought about coming back in… I don't know, a year or two."

"Well, Dimitri, if that's your real name…"

"It is," he interrupts her for a moment.

"Right," she continues, "is he waiting for you at the airport. Because at this pace, he's gonna be their through the night."

"Meh, sleep was never his deal when he has things to do."

The drive lasts about another hour, the two continue to speak in that time, learning more about each other. But, at this point, Liz couldn't tell what was a joke anymore and what was genuinely true. Dimitri saw these conflicting thoughts written on her face. "Excuse me," he asks the driver, "can you stop here?"

The driver questions this. "Are you sure, it'll be a half hour walk from here?" he looks to Liz. "Are you okay with this, Miss, or will you stay?"

She looks to Dimitri, seeing him finally change his expression, one that asks 'Trust me.'

She lets out a sigh, "I guess."

The driver lets them and her luggage off by the street, the airport just barely in sight. "Okay," she asks Dimitri, "what is it that we had to stop. You finally showing the cameras or… "

He answers her, rolling up his arm sleeves. "I don't know why, but I'd feel more at ease if you took me seriously. Maybe it's just you doubting me, but…," he shows her his arms. She stares at it for a moment before her eyes widen with shock. Growths begin to appear, like plates of glowing armor. His nails are replaced with clawed tips, and the overall pale skin becomes a dark blue. She looks up to him, only finding that same blank smile, widening ever slightly. "Oh my god," she tries to get out, "...you… you really are a…," she begins to fall to the ground, but Dimitri catches her in a second. Without warning, she feels a strong breeze for a few seconds and, before she knew it, they stood in front of the airport. As he puts her down, his arms return to normal before anyone else sees, and she spins around, trying to process this. She finally stops and asks. "W...why? Why did you tell me this?"

He looks to the ground for a moment before answering. "I have no idea, but I trust you can hold a secret. Besides," he holds up both their tickets, "it seems we have seats next to each other, so I thought being honest would make the ride more… comfortable."

She loads her luggage onto the scales and everything, having him follow close behind. The whole time they spend is in silence as she processes what's happening in her mind.

' _He told me everything, me, a complete stranger. And he's…,_ ' she looks to him as he buys a neck pillow for the plane ride, ' _... never mind. He's a nice… person… at least.'_

He looks to her and gives a friendly wave before they leave for the terminal. They board the plane and sit right next to each other. As he reads a small book he pulled from his shirt pocket, she finally lets her thoughts wander until she says "hey?" He looks to her for a moment.

"You were right, this is more comfortable."

He gives her a small smile. "Glad to hear that, but to tell the truth, I hate flying."

"Yeah," she answers, "same here."

"You'd rather drive or take a boat?"

"...Yeah."


	2. Ch 2 The Other Two

The sun finally rises, the only person waiting at the terminal at this time awakens from her spot in the chairs, stretching and rubbing her sore spots. She has long, flowing black hair, wearing simple jeans and a pink shawl over her shoulders and purple shirt. "That was the worst sleep ever."

"Tell me about it," she immediately turns to her left to find someone sitting two chairs next to her. A man, having the most outrageous pink spiky hair she's ever seen, the base of each lock looking thicker than an arm. He wears a simple dress shirt and black jeans. "I couldn't sleep at all."

"Oh," she finds the situation awkward, "you're… waiting for someone too?"

"Huh?" he looks to her for a second, "oh, yeah, my cousin. Said he'd be running late. From the looks of it, we're waiting for the same plane to land."

"Y-yeah, I guess."

As he leans back with his arm over the chair rest, she taps away at her highs with her hands, waiting, the same as him. He starts talking again. "You think your friend saw my cousin? He's hard to miss. Tall guy, looks like a mannequin, less awesome hair than mine?"

She starts moving away from him, sitting five chairs away. He looks disgruntled. "Fine, be like that. I just wanted the pass the freakin time, but you want to sit in silence, be my guest," he throws up his arms in frustration. She looks away from him, not wanting to speak to him at all.

The plane finally lands after an hours wait. While the girl waits in her seat, the guy runs right up to the entrance and starts scanning the people as they walk by, looking for his cousin. He spots him and starts throwing his hands up. "Hey, right were Dimi, look. I'm tired of waiting, let's go."

Dimitri gives him an irritated look. "Patience, Dekar. I would like to say bye to my friend here."

"Oh?" Dekar looks intrigued, "a friend you say?" He looks to Dimitri's right to see a short girl next to him.

He looks to her for a moment before looking back to the person he tried to talk to, shouting "HEY, IS THIS YOUR FRIEND?!"

She tries to look away from him, but a quick glimpse tells us her answer. "Damn it," she mutters under her breath.

They all stand aside and greet each other. "Hello," Dimitri starts, "my name is Dimitri. Sorry about my cousin. He has a habit of throwing courtesy out the window."

"And shooting it," Dekar continues it, making a gun finger. " _Me llamo Dekar, mi senora._ "

She gives off a quick sigh. "My name is Joan," she turns to Dimitri, "and I guess you know my friend already."

"Elizabeth Dewitt, but my friends call me Liz," Liz says.

" _Somos amigos, no?_ " Dekar asks.

"Uh… no," Liz replies in a sarcastic tone, meaning it as a joke.

"Oh well," Dekar starts pulling Dimitri away, "it was nice to meet you two… one of you, at least," he gives a quick glance at Joan, "but we have to go because we're in a hurry."

Dimitri pulls his hand away and moves back towards the two girls. "Sorry, again, it's this thing he has about people who aren't… vertically challenged, like him." He points out Dekar's height, as he's an inch shorter than Joan.

"Don't worry," Joan answers, "he's just… a little weird, in my opinion."

"Really?" Dimitri questions. "Well he's family, so I barely notice." He turns to Liz and extends his hand to her. "It was a pleasure to talk to you, Ms. Dewitt."

She takes his hand and shakes it. "You, on the other hand, can call me Liz." She pulls her hand away. "We can meet up again, if you want. I'd give you a call, but…," she pulls out her broken phone.

"It's fine," Dimitri says, "I don't have a phone anyway. But, who knows? If we meet again, maybe it's a sign to be friends."

Dimitri leaves with Dekar. While Joan makes a fuss about Liz's broken phone and asking what happened, Liz stares at him for a moment, almost forgetting what he really is. She has a quick thought. ' _Who knows? Maybe he told me for a reason._ '


	3. Ch 3 Investigation

Ralton City, also known as "the Green Bowl" because of its location in the middle of open plain and small deserts, yet the area itself is green with forests and plants, all situated inside a ring of mountains with airplanes and the single path in the mountains being the only means of leaving this semi-trap. Joan lives in this city, working as an assistant to scientists studying the ecosystem, seeing as animals live within the forests that would never be able to survive in the desert terrain. She allowed her long time high school friend, Liz, to live with her until she can find a place for herself.

Joan helps Liz unpack in her apartment. "Now," Joan starts, "I know it's small, but I'll be gone most days doing my work and all, so make yourself at home."

"Thanks again for letting me stay with you until I can get a good job," Liz answers.

"It's no big deal, I always wanted a roommate whose company I actually enjoyed. When I was in college, I hated all my roommates. Too noisy, to annoying, and just plain gross."

A few minutes go by before Joan asks Liz about Dimitri. "So… about tall, pale, and handsome, how did you meet?"

"Well," Liz starts, not realizing what she's about to say, "I crashed into him and…"

Joan stares with stunned silence before blurting out "WHAT?!"

"I… I mean," Liz tries to fix the story so it's not as crazy. "It… sorry, I had some weird spasm there and mixed up words. Our cars… broke down in the middle of the road, halfway to the airport, so we called an uber and chatted the whole way."

Joan looks to her in disbelief, feeling like something isn't right about this "mix up." "So… you met him in the middle of nowhere and became friends?" she asks.

"Yes," Liz replies, being as calm as possible.

Joan ponders her reply before saying "ok," continuing to prepare for her exertion. However, as she leaves, she looks back at Liz who isn't paying attention to her. She feels something isn't right, but decides to trust her friend for now.

* * *

Joan finds herself wandering the forest, it being so vast and open that no one could ever guess what was behind the mountains. She finds a small group of deer, feeding on wild berries. She pulls out her camera and begins taking pictures, staying at a safe distance so not to disturb them. Suddenly, she hears growling nearby. She immediately begins backing away slowly, pulling out an air horn in case whatever it was goes to her. The deers were already aware of the danger and bolted off the other direction. As Joan looks around for any sign of it, she fails to notice something run by the path the deer took, seeing only a blur. Moments later, she hears one of the deers let out a cry before an abrupt snap. She looks to their direction and continues to back away. She finds a large rock and climbs on top of it. Using her camera, she tries to focus in on the deer, now having a better view. All she sees is a puddle of fresh blood, but no body, or sign of any creature. Without warning, something jumps from behind her. She lets out a yell and aims the air horn, blowing it at whatever it was. What followed was someone's voice. "AAAHHH, WHAT THE FUCK, MAN?!"

She immediately stops to see it was Dekar, of all people to run into. "OH MY GOD, I'm sorry… I thought…," she's cut off by more of his yelling.

"WHY THE FUCK DO YOU HAVE THAT?!"

"I thought you were an animal trying to get me."

"WELL, you're…," he pauses for a moment, "about 5/16 right about that, BUT STILL WRONG. I saw you while I was hiking and thought to surprise you."

"Why were… it doesn't matter, we have to go. I heard something and it killed a deer, I'm not prepared for this."

He looks at her with wide eyes for a moment. "Did you see what it was?"

"N-no, it got away, but we have to leave."

He follows her out of the forest until they reach her car. "Ok," she starts, "where's your car?"

"Don't have one,... Joan, was it?"

"W-what, but how did you…"

"It's called walking, good for your health and all. Besides, my cousin totaled his car on the way to the airport, so we're car-less."

She looks in confusion for a moment before asking "Wait, it was totaled?"

"Yeah," he replies, "sucks really. You know it's funny, I always thought I would crash a car before him but…," he notices her confused look. "Hey, you alright?"

"Y-yeah," she answers, "it's just… need a ride?"

"No, I'll walk back. Besides, I can fight off bears, I can handle anything that tries to follow me… except skunks, I'll run like a mother fucking if I see one."

As she drives off, leaving him by the road, she looks back at him through the rear view mirror and sees him walking back into the forest.

She heads back to her apartment to find Liz, writing resumes and filling out work forms on the table. She sees Joan and says "hey, any good specimens or something?"

"Yeah," she sits down next to her, "if that Dekar guy counts."

"You ran into him in the forest?"

"Yeah, he was just…," she stops with a worried expression before continuing. "Hey, did… did you get in an accident with that Dimitri guy?"

Liz stops writing and looks to her with concern. "Well...I didn't… uh…," she sees her with a face saying ' _please be honest.'_

She gives off a sigh. "Yes, I hit a pothole and we crashed."

Joan looks shocked and more worried now. "Were you hurt? Was he? How bad was it?"

"It wasn't… well… it…," she finds it difficult to answer such a serious question, especially with the kind of truth to it. "Look, it wasn't too bad. Dimitri pulled me out and nothing happened. Right now my uncle is dealing with the insurance stuff and Dimitri said he'd call him about that stuff, that's it."

Joan finds this hard to believe, not the crash, but about Dimitri. "So, he pulled you out and not a scratch or anything?"

"Yeah, we were pretty lucky. Don't worry, it was an old car anyway. My uncle was planning on getting a new one."

Joan stares at her for a while before saying "I'll go get some groceries, you want anything?"

"Well, if you want spaghetti tonight, or just order a pizza, tomato sauce is fine. I feel like most delivered pizza has too little sauce and…"

Liz continues, but Joan pushes out the noise as she starts thinking about Dimitri, finding this all too weird, and the fact that Dekar was, coincidentally, by her when the attack happened. ' _He had to have heard,'_ she thinks to herself.

* * *

Joan goes down the isles of food, looking for any good tomato sauce. She can't get the thought out of her head that something isn't right about Liz or the two fellows, Dimitri and Dekar, even the name is weird. She finds what she's looking for, pays, and begins leaving. However, a she gets in her car, she sees Dekar, wandering down the street, looking back and forth, as if keeping an eye out for anyone watching him. At that moment, he turns to Joan's direction and immediately starts walking the other way. She gives a quick thought on what to do, but instinct compels her to follow. She drives onto the street and begins following him, keeping her distance as best she can. Unfortunately, there are no other cars around, so he notices instantly the one car following him. As he turns a corner, she turns too, only to find him gone. She stares for a moment before a quick honk from behind her by another car snaps her out of it. She soon decides to start heading home. Suddenly, she sees Dekar again, carrying a large bag with him, slung behind him as he hurries towards the nearby forest entrance. Without another thought, Joan pulls up and parks next to the forest path and jumps out of her car. As before, she finds no sign of him, another dead end.

"I'm telling you," she argues with Liz as they have there dinner, "he's acting weird, like he's hiding something."

Liz does her best to change the subject or convince her it's nothing, but it's clear none of that is working. "Listen, they are nice people. Maybe he's just getting supplies."

Joan begins to become a bit hysterical. "No one can move that fast around here without drawing attention. Whatever he's doing or how he's doing it, it unnerves me."

"Why do you even care what he does?"

"Because you and… that Dimitri guy… and…"

"My god, it's nothing like that. I haven't even seen him since the…"

They both stop as they hear a knock at the door. Joan opens it to find Dimitri. "Hello," he says, "is Elizabeth home? I got something for her."

"How did you know where we live?"

Dimitri begins to frown. "Unfortunately, my cousin has a bad habit of knowing where people are, if you get what I…," he stops as Joan interrupts him.

"Wait, is he spying on us?!"

"No, he just… listen, just give Elizabeth this, as an apology." He immediately leaves, concerned with Dekar's actions. He hands Joan a bag with a brand new phone inside. She gives it to Liz and heads out.

"Where are you going, it's almost dark," Liz asks.

"I'm going to see what's up with these guys," Joan replies, leaving before Liz could stop her.

They were gone again, out of nowhere. Joan becomes frustrated with them, now concerned about them watching her and Liz. She has thoughts going through her head a mile a minute.

 _Should I have thrown that phone away?_

 _Is Dimitri in on it?_

 _Where the hell are they?!_

 _I'll find them, and when I do I'll…_

It's turns very dark by the time she finds Dekar, alone on the street. As she drives, she sees him running around a butcher house, carrying another bag with him. She heads straight for him, forgetting about any subtlety. He sees her and starts running, dropping the bag immediately. She follows him until he turns into an alleyway. She gets out of her car and chases after him. "HEY ASSHOLE," she screams at the top of her lungs, "STAY AWAY FROM US."

She runs around the area, trying to find him in a blind fury before she realizes she's lost. She starts heading down a familiar path, hoping to find her car on the other side. Unknown to her, Dekar stands on top of the roof, looking down on her, muttering under his breath. " _Dios mio_ , what the hell is wrong with…," he stops as he sees a group of men coming her way, "oh no."

She has them in sight, seeing there torn clothes and tough appearance. As she starts heading the other way, more of them surround her. "Listen," she begins saying in a weak voice, "I don't want any trouble. I got lost and… just please let me go and…"

"Go?" one the them says. "You're not going anywhere unless you give us your stuff. No one comes into our turf with just a warning."

She begins trembling and starts pulling out her bag. Suddenly, Dekar jumps off and lands right behind her. "Excuse me, _muchachos_ , leave her alone before I get serious."

They turn to him and start laughing. "What the hell are you gonna do, shorty?"

He gives them a shocked stare before turning to anger with a large grin. "Congrats, I have a reason to beat the crap out of you guys." He cracks his knuckles.

Joan tries to run, but one of them grabs her. In that instant, Dekar dashes to the guy, kicking him ten feet away onto the ground. As the guy lies unconscious, the others charge him. He takes up a boxer stance and proceeds to knock each of them out, dodging each swing, moving in ways that seem inhuman. One man tries to straight punch him. Dekar bends all the way back matrix style and back flips away, kicking his feet up into the guys chin, sending him flying. As he regains his balance, one manages to hit him. He recoils for a moment before proceeding to tackle the guy into the others with violent force. As the guy gets back up, being the only one left, Dekar charges him out of anger. Suddenly, the guy pulls out a gun and shoots him square in the head. Joan falls to her knees in shock as Dekar starts tumbling back. However, before he could fall, he starts walking towards the guy. In utter shock, he shoots him again, barely staggering Dekar as he continues to walk towards him. Out of fear, he drops the gun and starts running. Dekar charges him and grabs him by the leg, slamming him into a nearby wall, knocking him out.

In that moment, he spits out the two bullets that hit him and the holes close up. "Ok, a little sloppy, but I think it's safe n…," he turns to find Joan running away, "damn it."

She runs with utter terror in her eyes, not carrying where she ends up, she just wants to escape. Without warning, Dekar grabs her and covers her mouth, muffling her screams as she starts to cry. "Hey, hey," he struggles to say while holding onto her. "Calm down, I'm not gonna…," he gets elbowed in the eye before he yells "STOP MOVING AND LISTEN, DAMN IT!"

She immediately stops, still crying. "Listen, because I'm only going to say this once, and the only reason I'm not gonna hurt is that Dimitri will kill me for that, and that's no joke, understand?"

She nods her head in agreement.

He lets out a sigh before starting. "Okay, I'm a mutate, one of those B.O.W.s you see on the news, but I'm a nice guy. Listen, my cousin told me that your friend knows about what we are. Naturally, I socked him in the face and said 'WHY?!,' but that's beside the point. I was worried about you guys telling others. We don't care about who knows, but we went through a lot of trouble to sneak passed our dads and not be discovered. If they realize we're here, bye bye to our travels abroad. Now, all we want to do is explore and see new things. Am I going to fast for you?"

Joan shakes her head as she clings to everything he says.

"Okay, good. Now, you guys will say nothing. We leave you alone, you leave us alone. Oh, FYI, that stuff I was doing? Getting food. I have a tendency for runny meat, if you know what I mean. So that makes it 7/16 of you being right. I don't want to hurt you, so promise me you'll say nothing, and you'll never see my devilishly handsome mug again, got it."

She nods yes, finally calming down. He lets her go, but before he could do anything, she slaps him in the face. In that moment of tension, she mutters in fear "That's for… spying on us."

He rubs the spot and begins laughing, "I like that 'no shit' attitude, even though you're terrified." He extends his hand to her, "the least I can do is escort you to your car, and maybe recommend self-defense training, you were awful back there."

She soon feels that same annoyance she felt with him before, but that's a good thing at this moment. She accepts the kind gesture. "Just one thing."

"What?"

"You guys didn't do anything to that phone, right?"

"What phone?"

"The one your cousin wanted me to give to Liz."

"No, that's his actions, not mine. I don't care if she has a phone."

"You're an ass."

"Thank you."

"And short."

He glares at her, removing his fake contact eyes to reveal red glowing eyes. "Don't push it."

She flinches for a moment, but decides to stare back.

He lets out another laugh as he puts the contacts back in. "I _really_ like that."


	4. Ch 4 Getting Along

Morning finds the two friends getting ready for the day. Joan struggles to wake up as she even finds the task of brushing her teeth strenuous. "It wasn't a good idea staying up so late," Liz says as she reached around her to grab a brush for her hair. "Yeah," Joan answers in a low voice, "or maybe it was the shocking experience of almost being mugged and saved by a freak of science."

"Well, isn't it better knowing the truth now?"

"...No, not really."

"If you didn't, you'd be wasting your time finding him."

"Maybe if he didn't let himself get shot, I would have just guessed he's a kung-fu master."

Liz gives off a sigh, "You thanked him at least, right?"

"I did, but… what now?"

"We leave them alone, nothing more, nothing less. If we see them, we act like nothing's wrong and that's it."

Joan gives up and lets it be, having to get her body moving. "I have to get going."

"I thought you didn't have work today?"

"I have… other things to do."

Dekar finds himself scouting the city from the tops of the roofs. He looks out to what's called "the Rim of the Bowl," the very mountains that surround the city, far off enough to just barely be in sight, but they span the entire horizon in any direction. "Jesus, he wasn't kidding about this place," he remarks on what Dimitri told to him. A nice, secluded place they can retreat to as they explore the country. Off the corner of his eye, he spots Joan again, walking into a karate building. "Well, look who wants to be a master," he mutters under his breath. Out of curiosity, he stakes out the place, keeping an eye on Joan to see how she does, and the results are pathetic. Over the course of four hours, she falls on her hands and feet every time she tries balance, finds herself out of sync with everyone in motion, and misses her punching target repeatedly, and even if she does hit it, the slight recoil gets to her. Dekar can't resist the urge to laugh, escaping onto the roof to laugh his ass off. However, as he looks at her, he sees the misery in her eyes, and it tugs at whatever heart strings he has hidden behind that attitude.

As Joan leaves from her first day of practice, she already considers refunding her tuition.

"I see that look in your eye," a voice catches her off guard. She finds Dekar leaning against her car. "Word of warning, they don't give refunds unless you go through a week of practice, so you better make the best of it."

"I thought you said we'd leave each other alone."

"That was before I saw you act so pathetic."

"Any reason you're here besides being an asshole?"

"I'm taking you somewhere."

"What, in my own car?" she replies in annoyance.

"Alright, before you answer, if you want to take something away from _ANY_ of this, let me help you."

"Why would you help me?"

"Your skills don't match your attitude, so we're going the full hundred yards… or whatever."

She ponders this for awhile before answering, "If I hate it, we're done here."

"Deal."

Dekar ends up leading her outside of the city, outside of the town, driving through the one road in the mountains. "You're paying me for gas money," she points to him as she drives.

"Also deal," he replies, moving her finger away. As they finally enter the desert, she finds the change of scenery all too surprising, despite knowing this. From green forests to open rock desert leaves her both hot and astounded. "Here," he points to a large structure out in the middle of the baking grounds with a dirt path leading to it. As she turns onto the path, she gets a better idea of what it was, an old factory, for what use, she didn't know. As they get out next to the largest intact structure, he leads her through the front entrance into a large open room, vacant of the large machinery that use to be there. "So," Joan questions, "what is this place?"

"This is our home, my cousin found it awhile back. No one else wanted it, so we took it," he turns to face Joan. "Now, punch me."

She stares at him for a moment. "W-what?"

"Punch me, like you mean it."

She gives him a nudge with her fist. He promptly fist bumps hers with force behind it. She reels back in pain. "Come on," he says, "it wasn't that hard, and I said _mean it_."

She immediately socks him in the jaw. "IS THAT HARD ENOUGH, ASSHOLE?!" as she shakes her hand in pain.

"Okay," he jokingly sets his jaw in place, "now we're getting somewhere. First part, you have to get use to it."

She stares at him with residual anger. "Easy for you to say. You probably feel nothing."

In that moment, he walks over to the nearest wall and, without warning, punches a hole through it, breaking a thick layer of concrete. However, he pulls out a bloodied, broken hand. "I barely managed this without splattering it," his hand begins to heal, "and it hurts, but I have a high pain tolerance. In your case, you haven't pushed yourself."

She almost tunes him out after looking away from his hand. She looks back to see it's fine now. "Okay, but please don't do that again."

"As long as you do as I say, now punch me some more."

She gives off a quick sigh. "Well, here's some aggression coming your way."

"Trust me, you'll have more than you can give, doll face."

What follows is a straight half hour of practice. She practices both stances she learned in class and boxing poses like he does, all the while with the occasional insult from him, but she doesn't care if he doesn't mean it or is enjoying it. All she knows it's fun to take her aggression out on him. She finally stops as she falls to the ground in exhaustion. "What's the matter," he eggs it on, "down already, I thought you weren't…," he stops as he sees the pained expression on her face. "Sorry, we should take a break."

He pulls a table out of nowhere, along with a couple of soda cans. She struggles for a moment to use her aching hands, but she thinks he wants her to work through it. She opens it and begins curling her fingers back and forth, working the muscles constantly. "Is this how you practice?"

He takes a giant swig, literally emptying the can, and answers "no, I usually go until I pass out of lose a hand."

She goes through thoughts in her mind before she asks "what's your abilities, anyway."

"Me, well, instant regeneration, faster than anyone in my family, my cousin's or my own. Drawback, I lack there durability. If you shoot Dimitri in the head, the bullet won't go through the skull… unless, you know, you use a magnum or shotgun. Short of firepower like that and it won't do anything."

"What else?"

"A magician never reveals all his secrets."

"A magician never reveals _any_ secrets."

"Really? Fuck, I'm fired then."

She gives off a quick laugh, feeling all the tension she feels for him gone. "On a scale of 1 to 10, how hard do I punch now?"

He gives it a quick thought. "Honestly, I can't say. I never let anyone do stuff like that, mostly they never live afterwards, or they're too kind not to."

"So does that make me a jerk?"

"No, you're the avenger of every person I pissed off… so like, 23, I don't see a lot of people outside my family."

"How many family members do you have?"

He counts off with his fingers for a moment. "By blood alone… twelve, not counting fake uncles or grandparents and all that, considering my dad has no dad."

"By the way, where's your cousin, Dimitri?"

"I told him we'd do this and managed to get him to leave to do whatever he wanted."

* * *

Back in the city, Dimitri sits with Liz in the apartment, drinking coffee together. "So," Liz asks, "do you think Joan is okay?"

"I'm more concerned with Dekar," he replies, "he's letting his ass get kicked."

"Don't you mean _getting_?"

"Nope."

She lets out a laugh before continuing. "She doesn't hate him, really. She's more worried for me, really."

"Why is that?"

"Well," she pauses for a while, thinking about how to say what she wants. "I have no family, other than my uncle. She thinks I'll be alone now and all, so she wants to be there for me."

"I'm… I'm sorry for asking."

"NO, it's fine, really. Having friends like her is the best. It's been a while since then."

"Am I a friend?"

"Of course, besides, we've told each other our secrets, so we're stuck together now."

"Fine by me," he ponders a quick thought. "Listen, I plan to leave for Seattle in a few days. You could come with me if you want. Dekar didn't want to go anyway, not a fan of 'the giant toothpick,'" he mimics his voice, causing Liz to laugh more.

"Well," she answers, "I guess I'll join you. I'm not having luck with finding a job yet, anyway."

"When we get back, I can help you, alright?"

"Alright."

* * *

As the sun begins to go down, Dekar continues the lessons. "Second, flexibility, you need to bend in ways no one else can."

She gives him the stink eye. "If you try to touch me while trying to 'help me,' I'll break your hand worse than that wall could. Besides, everyone in class will do the same as me."

"Well, your my student, and my students get A++ levels of skills, also, congrats, you're my first student."

"And probably your last."

She begins stretching as far as she normally can, then with a little incentive to do so without his help, she tries to go further than that. "Ok," she begins, "I'm guessing you have no bones or something, so this is nothing to you."

"Not really, I have bones, it's just that I can really stretch, like a contortionist. Watch."

He begins pulling his arms back so far behind his back, holding one leg up almost parallel to the other, reaching higher than his head, and begins back flipping until he comes close to a railing high above him. He jumps up and hooks on the front of his feet to the railing and leans up, almost "U" shaped in appearance. "Come on, kick bricks at an 180 degree angle, like that tiger… oh wait, that was a movie."

She gives off a sigh and, reluctantly, asks "could you help?"

He begins pulling her arms, bending her back, all to near points of dislocation, but that never comes. This goes on for another half hour until he stops, leaving her collapsed on the ground. "You alright."

"Y-yeah," she stands and pulls on her arms, "great, now I'm at that point where I'm use to the constant pulling, like a massage that you don't want to stop."

"Jesus, I want a massage now," blurts Dekar, "but that's good. Your getting a feel for it. Now we can go onto the next lesson, but after a few more sessions of this and karate."

"What's next?"

"Here's a hint, punch me."

She curls her fingers and winds up for a hard punch. She swings, but only hits thin air as she spins from the momentum. She looks around until she sees him hanging from a chain on the ceiling. He yells from the top. "Third, real sparring, meaning no more cheap shots, we're going to try now."

He jumps down, landing in front of her. "I think it's time for you to go home, it's almost late and you need sleep. I'll drive you back… and get gas."

She ends up giving him the keys and is driven back, not until he got gas and filled to tank, she made sure to pester him for that. As he parks in the apartment parking lot, he gives her one last bit of advice. "Remember, we're going to spar, so no whining or any of that. If you want another shot at this masterpiece of a face, you'll need to earn it."

"Right, see ya later," she walks back, but not until turning to get the keys back as he throws them. She feels bad about letting him walk back, but something tells her he's going to deserve it when they spar. Suddenly, she sees Dimitri walking out of her apartment. "Hello," he says to her, "how was practice?"

"Fine, but your cousin is the weirdest guy I've ever met."

"Trust me when I say that everyone on his side of the family agrees."

"So… do you guys live apart or something?"

"I think that's enough time for stories, I should get going. Have a good night."

He leaves her to walk back into the apartment with Liz, passed out on the table and the room cleaned, knowing he did it.


	5. Ch 5 Let the Fight Begin

It has been a few weeks since Joan started training with Dekar and learning from the Dojo, but signs of her progress are obvious. In her final days of practice in the Dojo, she has perfected all the teacher could teach and shown skills far above a beginner, she has even been allowed to practice with higher level students. However, no matter who she spars with, she defeats them handedly, even going a bit too far with people she thought could handle her skills. Her teacher takes notice and talks to her at the end of the day. "Joan, my pupil, I sense unease in your spirit, what is wrong?"

"Nothing," she says without looking towards him as she stretches. "I've just been training with someone else and he steps up everything. I'm just staying at his pace."

"It saddens me, knowing you train with another master without respecting my teachings. Tell me, who is this other master."

She gives off a sigh and turns to him. "Firstly, my apologies for offending you."

"Apology accepted," they bow to each other.

She continues. "Secondly, I think I'll be quitting this course. I respect your teachings, but it's not my style."

"There's no shame in that. Karate requires a quiet mind, however, it seems this other master is keeping you unbalanced."

"You don't know the half of it," she looks to the window, "thirdly, he's right there."

Dekar immediately ducks down, hiding from sight for a moment before he finally strolls in all high and mighty. "Please, no applause, you're too much," he faces the sensei, "hey man, how's it going?"

"Strange, I never would have guessed you'd be… a master."

"Yeah, I get that a lot. Listen, she's on her final course with me, so we'll be making our leave now."

"What is this final test?"

"She has to beat me or fail trying."

The sensei feels threatened by this response, as well as any remaining students taking notice.

"A bond between a pupil and a master is sacred, and you seem to forget that."

"Forget?" he starts laughing, "buddy, this isn't any bond or something. Believe me, she'll want to take me down. Here, allow me to spar with you to give her a better idea of what to expect."

The sensei backs away to the sparring mat and responds. "So be it."

They take their stances. With a signal, Dekar charges and tries to land a punch. The teacher dodges, unaware of Dekar's other arm, extending to catch him. He catches him in it and throws him against the wall, cracking it a bit. The force nearly knocking the guy out. Dekar stands over him. "Sorry about that, but I needed to drive the point across," he turns to Joan, "no mercy, you either win or lose."

While everyone stand in shock, seeing this violent, untamed, man, Joan looks with slight indifference, knowing she'll be far more prepared.

* * *

They find themselves within the same factory, open floor, no mats, no padding, just a hard floor and their fists. Joan wears no shoes and sports a tank top, yoga pants, and fingerless gloves. Dekar is all out, no shoes, no shirt, not even his contacts hiding his dulled,red eyes, just a pair of torn jeans. For his size, he shows large muscles and even mocks her with a flex, but he wants her mad, no holding back. "Remember," he shouts, his eyes becoming a deeper red, "no mercy."

She gives no response, only taking her stance that's all too familiar to Dekar as it's his own. He shows a massive grin on his face, too inhuman for anyone else to do, baring his sharpened teeth, and strikes.

His swings at her, but she dodges. Already too familiar, she crouches to avoid the other arm and punches him in the stomach. However, he barely flinches. She looks up to see him, still smiling. "No mercy." He knees her in the chin, sending her falling back. Without warning, he jumps up above her and strikes down. She rolls to the side, leaving him to crack the floor and his knuckle. She stands and spin kicks him, sending a jolt through him, but he's still standing. They begin matching blow for blow, he strikes, she blocks or dodges, vise verse. His one punch aiming for her face, she ducks down and catches his arm, using momentum to throw him against the floor. Not a second later, he grabs her by the arm and pulls her down before lifting her up into a choke lock, pinning her left arm up to her face. His grip tightens, but she wastes no time and slams her heel onto one of his toes. He jolts for a moment. "Playing dirty, I like that."

He lets go and throws her to the ground. She stands up and winds up to punch, he does the same. They end up socking each other in the face, but Dekar is faster to recover and proceeds to knee her in the gut. He goes again, but she catches the knee and pushes him back. She tries to recover from the blow, clutching her gut, but he returns with an elbow to the back. He picks her up, seeing her in a daze. He whistles for her attention, snapping his fingers and all. "Hey, wake up, we're fighting."

She humors him with a smile and swings her arm back, aiming straight for his eye as her fist hits him dead on, catching him off guard. He clutches his right eye and looks up, seeing her charging him, trying to tackle him to the ground. As she grabs his torso, she only succeeds in pushing him back. He cracks his neck for a second before picking her up by the torso, carrying her upside down, and letting her fall. Before her head hits the floor, he grabs her legs and lifts her body high into the air, before slamming it down to the floor.

The madness finally slows down as he stares down at her. Suddenly, the ever present grin disappears as she lays lifeless. "Joan? Joan? Stop fucking with me… oh god?!" He kneels down to her. Without warning, she awakens and punches him in the jaw, knocking one of his massive teeth out. However, this leaves a nasty cut on her knuckles. As he backs away, she stands up, wobbling. "Come on…,don't chicken out on… me."

He sees her bloodied face and slowly walks to her. She notices the bruises on him too, but she tries to lift her arms to attack. She ends up falling, leaving him to catch her. He sits her against the wall and tries to speak with her. "Hey, you okay?"

"No," she spits out with a bit of blood, "I lost."

He gives a quick laugh, "No, you pass with… ehhh… B-?"

"B… minus… that blows."

"Hey, that's a passing grade," he pulls out a napkin of green dust from his pocket, "now shut and eat this. Trust me, I know what it looks like, but this will actually help. B.S.A.A. approved."

Joan sits by a table in the corner, bandaged up and holding green tablets in her hand and a spray bottle with a "+" on it. Dekar returns with some water bottles. They give a quick toast and swig the drinks. Joan takes a deep breath after she finishes. "I thought you said win or lose?"  
"You really thought you would have won if I didn't show mercy, I'm legally… well, illegally a weapon. Besides, you're tougher than any grunt I've met."

"Yeah, and now look at me, like a walked out of a war."

"Just use that stuff and you'll be healed in no time," he pulls out his tooth. She barely remembered doing that as a new one already grew in. "Here, take it, you've earned it."

She grabs the tooth, seeing her blood on it. It almost looked like the tooth of a T-rex, but much sharper. "Thanks, Dekar."

"Still think I'm an ass?" he gives her the best puppy dog eyes he can muster, so terrifying.

"No," she starts petting him on the head, "but it's a start, dummy."

He gives an excited cheer, "I'VE BEEN PROMOTED TO DUMMY!"

She tries getting up ,but the pain in her back keeps her from moving. He stops and turns to her. "Yeah, you'll feel that in the morning, but after that, gone."

"You do this with any of your family?" she asks.

"Fuck no," he replies abruptly, "my brother could crush me to death. Thank god he's not insane like me."

She starts laughing as he tries to explain. "No, really. Seven out of ten of doctors say I'm legally crazy, granted, one was too scared to tell me straight."

He ends up driving her home, picking her up bridal style and kicking on the floor hoping for an answer. What follows is a shocked and worried Liz, frantically setting a place for Joan on the bed, and Dimitri just as shocked. "I thought you'd go easy on her?!"

Joan answers for him. "Don't worry, I'm not mad, right Dekar?"

He stares at her. "Are you telling the truth or hiding a blind fury?"

Dimitri helps settle her in the bed and asks Dekar to walk outside with him. As Liz tends to Joan, they here a loud smack with an "OW!" from Dekar. They walk back in, Dekar rubbing his cheek. "Promise me you won't do this again," a still calm and collective Dimitri asks both Dekar and Joan, saying "we promise" at the same time.

"I'm very sorry for my cousin," Dimitri speaks to Liz, "he can go too far sometimes."

Liz gives a big sigh. "As long as Joan will be fine, and not end up in a hospital, I'll let it slide," she turns to Dekar, "but you're no longer my friend," she says in a sarcastic tone.

Dekar lets out a Darth Vader "NOOOOOOO," and places his head on the bed.

"I won't blame you if you really hate him now," Dimitri says to Liz.

"I'm a little nettled," she replies, "but… if Joan is okay, I'm okay."


	6. Ch 6 My Enemies

Liz begins packing her bags for a trip. "Where are you going?" Joan asks.

"I'm going to Seattle with Dimitri to see the Space Needle," she replies.

"What," Joan says with both surprise and sarcasm. "You're leaving me here with crazy?!"

"Yes," Liz replies with equal sarcasm, "the same guy you trained with and tried to fight. I think you two are passed the point of no return."

"Fair point."

A knock at the door calls Liz's attention. She opens it to see Dimitri, carrying a small bag with him. "You got enough in their for the whole trip," Liz asks.

"It should be enough for two days," he replies. "I wasn't planning on getting any room, but we'll find a hotel or something for you."

"It's weird because you always wear the same clothes."

Dekar peaks out behind him, whispering "Because they are, the same smelly, old clothes."

"I wash them," Dimitri says with a bit of emphasis, but that's the most he's shown.

Dekar and Joan wave them goodbye as they Uber to the airport, leaving them alone. "So," Dekar asks Joan, "whatcha got planned?"

"I plan to do my job, as it was interrupted about a week ago."

"Mind if I join you? You're tougher now, but I bet you'd still run from a rabies wriddled coyote, or something."

"Sure," she replies, "you can be the arm he bites."

"I'll be honest, anything that bites me will get things that could kill them."

"Gross."

They drive out, back to the forest to collect data and what not.

* * *

On the flight to Seattle, Dimitri reads another small book while Liz tries to pass the time. She starts a conversation with him. "Soooo…," she starts, thinking of what to say. "What do you… do… when your… doing stuff?"

"Well," he mimics her tone, "I do stuff… like stuff. In all honesty, I would help my dad, most of the time. He makes 'wonder drugs,' as the B.S.A.A. call them."

"Really? What's 'wonderful' about them?"

"They're basic herbs and such, no conventional medicine, but with his experiments, he can make things that heal wounds faster than normal. Some agents even have a history using regular herbs on duty."

"Who?"

"People like Mr. Kennedy, the Redfields, a number of prominent agents."

"I've been meaning to ask," Dimitri can feel the tension in her voice. "Does your family have… enemies?"

"Well…," he takes a while to answer this. "My father's creators, for starters…"

"Umbrella?" she implies.

"No," he continues, "another group called 'Entity.' They sought to destroy humanity, no profit, nothing, just seeing humans as a plague. From what we could salvage from destroyed facilities of theirs, they wanted a species that could rise above humanity. My family was to be that species. However, they thought we'd want that, but we didn't. That being said, my father doesn't want to interact with the world, he holds a grudge against humans for always wanting the same thing, power and weapons of mass destruction. However, he does aid the B.S.A.A., but aside from killing the head of Entity, Verden, he does nothing else."

"The seclusion is peaceful. He's created a home for anyone like us, even certain B.S.A.A. agents, becoming a separate branch, so to speak. As for my uncle, Dekar's father, he rules another society of mutates, a benevolent king with his gentle queen."

"Wait," Liz questions, "Dekar's royalty?"

"I know," he replies, "it's impossible to think, but he is. They make up most of our military power."

"You say that as if you have your own country."

"That's not inaccurate. I'd say more on the matter, but I think we should stop."

"One last question,... can they, Entity,... make more mutates?"

Dimitri stares off towards the window for a moment. "I pray they can't."

They land two hours later, heading straight out, seeing as they both had carry ons, however, Liz's barely counted. They stood by the front of the airport as they figure out what to do next.

"You know," Dimitri starts, "I could take us into town in a few minutes."

"Oh right," Liz remembers, "you did that thing when we met. How exactly did you do that?"

"Aside from enhanced speed, I have conductive capabilities. Although I can't generate electricity, I can control the flow of it and store it. It allows me to do short, but distant, bursts. A demonstration."

Out of nowhere, he picks her and the package up and speed off the moment no one notices. Liz soon realizes she's next to the freeway, downhill of it so no one could see them. Without any words, she nods in excitement and they march off. In less than one minute, they stand center on a rooftop, twelve blocks away from the Space Needle. While Liz is energized, Dimitri sits down all sweaty. "Oh no," Liz kneels next to him, "are you ok?"

"I'm fine," he says exhausted, "it's not as easy without much juice, and the extra weight."

"Hey," she playfully jabs him in the shoulder.

"I meant the baggage."

Suddenly, a small crystal, without an explanation, pops out from the back of his neck. He takes it and holds it up. "Woooah," Liz stares in wonder, "what is that?"  
"We call it a Feedback Crystal, my body makes when I do bursts of speed. It's pretty, but don't let it near your phone, it'll steal the power in an instant. You can keep it if you want. At this size, it'll charge in no time."

"What do you mean 'charge?'"

"It's like negative energy, it'll attract any source of energy, besides biological, to cancel out its negative nature. It's a byproduct of overuse, but when charged, it'll become a power source of anything."

He cups it in her palm. "How will I know it's charged?"

"Electricity will be visible inside it, but no worries, flesh won't conduct any of it at this size."

"This size?"

"Well, I have made larger ones, with more lethal results, but this one is safe."

She puts it in her pocket and helps Dimitri up. They leave, out of sight, from the blind spot of the building.

Without delay, they head straight for the Space Needle. They ride up the elevator to the very top of the needle, where they can enjoy the food at the SkyCity Restaurant or go up another level to simply admire the beautiful sights at more than 500 feet up in the sky. They decide to enjoy some of the cuisine provided for them. The down side for Dimitri is that he's not old enough to drink, despite telling Liz that his body is resistant to alcoholic influence, leaving him incapable of getting drunk, at least on this stuff, as he talks of his father's "special brew" that could get them drunk like normal people. Liz loves every moment of this, from spending more time with Dimitri, learning about him, to being able to see such sights without too much concern. The struggles of life soon leave her as the amazement she feels leaves her too happy to care at this moment.

They soon head for the observation deck, using the mounted binoculars to view every part of Seattle, Washington. They marvel at the beautiful sky, the bustling streets, even the atmosphere is admirable, peaceful and calm. "Dimitri?" Liz asks him.

"What is it?" he replies.

"I want you to know that it means a lot that you invited me. It's sad your dad doesn't want you to do stuff like this."

He looks through one of the mounted binoculars. "Believe me, he's not the only one."

"Yeah, but…," Liz stops as she notices something is off. At that moment, Dimitri's expression changed. He looks concerned, something that isn't normal for his character. He stares off into the distance near what he saw through the binoculars. "Dimitri," she asks, "what's wrong?"

"Nothing," he turns to her, showing his plain smile, as if nothing happened. "I think the altitude is getting to me, let's go."

Before leaving, Liz tries to get a glimpse through the binoculars to see if anything caught his attention, but it times out before she could see anything. She reluctantly follows Dimitri out of the structure as they continue the day, feeling it had to be something he saw. She's known him long enough that it's bad if he's unsettled.

They find a simple hotel to spend the night at for the night. While Liz brushes her teeth, Dimitri stares out the window, contemplating on what he should do. Through his mind, one image plays over and over. In one moment through the binoculars, he saw something bizarre, a man on top of the roofs in the the distance, or what looked like a man. All he saw was a black outline of a person, too far for any detail, but he could feel it. At that moment, he stared right back, as if straight at him. He snaps out of it as Liz calls him. "Dimitri, are you okay?"

"Yeah," he replies, "I'm just worried about Joan. I left her with Dekar, so you can imagine that's not a good scenario."

Liz can feel it's not that, but she chooses to believe it. "Yeah, but you shouldn't worry, he knows his limits."

"You're probably right," he says, beginning to walk out the door. "I'll go get a drink, I need less sleep so don't wait up for me."

"Okay," she replies as she crawls into the bed. "Good night."

"Night."

He heads down to the lobby, acting casually, nothing amiss. He leaves the building and heads down the nearest alley. The moment he's out of sight, he bolts to the top of the roofs, taking deep breaths as he contemplates on what to do. Eventually, he heads to the Space Needle and, with lightning speed, heads to the very top from the outside. His fingers become claws as he grips the metal, ending up at the same spot he saw the man. He has the same building in sight, the streets surrounding it are far more empty and dark than anywhere else. He soon bolts down and heads to it.

Upon arrival, he finds Cherry Pickers all around the darkened area on several streets. He sees a group of construction workers surrounding one of them, speaking to people as they try to walk by. He overhears what they say.

"I'm sorry ma'am. Due to faulty electrical connections in this section of the city, we had to cut power to it and fix the problem. Civilians are not allowed to cross in until the problem has been fixed. All civilians within this area, for whatever reason, have been evacuated and work offices have been told."

Dimitri notices something off about them. They all seem "fake" in a way, like robots as they stand by the Cherry Pickers, some working on nearby power lines, and any on the ground staring off into the crowd, waiting for anyone to come by and stop them. Upon his search of the area, he finds something peculiar, a faint light in the center building of the area, a packaging depot. He sneaks across the rooftops towards it, unaware of the one person that sees him, Liz. Back at the hotel, she saw him leaving the area and immediately followed, staying out of sight to see what he was looking for. She saw the workers, waiting to stop anyone. One spots her, causing her to duck behind the corner of a nearby building. She waits a while before looking back, only to see the men gone, nowhere in sight. She takes the chance and runs pass the Cherry Pickers, avoiding the workers on top of them. However, one reaches to his ear, hitting an ear piece. "Sir," he says, "she's heading your way. Do we stop her?"

"No," the piece responds, "let her come."

"Understood."

Dimitri lands on the roof of the depot. He looks through the glass windows on the roof to see inactive convary belts, all with empty boxes, both on them, and strewn about the complex. In the shadows, he sees them, a group of soldiers searching the containers, all with an insignia as clear as day, Entity. They follow the lead of one man, or what he assumes is a man. It's the thing he saw before, the figure, but now more clearly. His entire body is covered head to toe in a black suit, no gaps, no openings, and no hole for the face. No detail could be seen through it to show who it was, but one thing stood out. On the figures chest was a device, a core with connecting wires and lines, and layered across the suit, each with several vent-like openings that were closed. Dimitri stays out of sight to see them searching for something, but what? Suddenly, all his attention is placed right below him as he sees Liz, hiding behind the machinery as she looks towards them. Dimitri, as quiet as possible, opens the window and crawls in, clinging to the ceiling to close it before he jumps down. He jumps right behind her and grabs her by the waist and mouth, stopping her from screaming or moving. "We have to leave, now," he whispers in her ear. She realizes who it is and immediately calms down. He lets go of her and they begin sneaking out. They move through a line of boxes stacked on top of each other, seeing the exit on the other side. "Hold on," he whispers to her, using his speed to escape.

Without warning, something bursts through the boxes and lands a blow on him, sending him flying back. The figure stands before a shocked Liz, staring down at her before throwing her to the other soldiers waiting on the sideline. As they grab hold of her, keeping her in place, the figure walks towards a disorientated Dimitri. "Well," he begins to speak, "we finally meet."

"Who the hell are you?" Dimitri asks.

"My name…," he tries to remember, "well, it's been so long since I heard it that I forgot." He starts bragging light a psychopath. "Most call me sir, master, murderer, and one guy called me a sick fuck," he reaches for the core, twisting a large knob at the center of it, "but you can call me Gaser."

Suddenly, the vents open and a massive amount of blue smoke sprays out of them, engulfing him and Dimitri while the soldiers stay at a safe distance. Dimitri begins to feel dizzy from it, but that's soon replaced by fear as he relies what it is. Out of nowhere, Gaser swings and nails him in the gut before disappearing again. Dimitri tries to find him, only to be kicked to the ground. He stands and receives another punch. They come faster and faster, hitting harder as time went on, the bruises and blood coming faster than it can heal. With one uppercut, Dimitri is sent flying as he lands out of the gas in front of Liz. She struggles to free herself, wanting to help him. The gas dissipates as Gaser walks out of it. "Neat trick, right?" Gaser says, looking down on a bloodied Dimitri. "What's wrong, I thought you guys were supposed to be all powerful," he places his foot over his chest, "seems the peace left you to be a piece of crap."

Gaser sees the fear in his eyes. "Oh, you're scared of me? No, it's not that, is it. It's the gas, isn't it? Of course it wouldn't affect you, but maybe your friend…"

With that, Dimitri springs up, knocking him off his balance. With his wounds healed, his eyes turn a deep red as the skin on his arms begins to move. The flesh gives way as sharp, hardened growths cover them, and his teeth extend from his jaw, overlapping his lips. Gaser stands and begins laughing. "WE GOT A FIGHTER HE…," he's cut off as Dimitri appears right in front of him, grabbing him by the neck and twisting it a full 180 degrees. He turns to the soldiers, all aiming their weapons at Liz. Suddenly, he sprints right pass them, holding Liz in his bloody hands. She opens her eyes and sees each one of them, decapitated, as their bodies fall. She stares at him for a moment, shocked by his sudden violent nature, until he calms down and reverts. "Dimitri, what did…," he cuts her off.

"We're leaving."

Suddenly, Gaser's body stands, his head snapping back into place. "Why now, the fun just started."

As he reaches for the knob, Dimitri picks up Liz. "Whatever you do, don't breath in the gases," he says to her. Suddenly, he's off running as the gas rockets out of Gaser, enveloping the building in moments. Dimitri runs with all his speed, but his energy is drained, allowing Gaser to catch up as a moving cloud of it follows them out. Dimitri heads for the roof tops, hopping across each one, trying to lose him, but he keeps up. At the moment he lands on the next roof, he drops Liz on the top of it and turns instantly, tackling into Gaser, knocking him down to the ground. They land in a crowd of people that begin running away from the conflict. They regain their balance and Gaser reaches for the knob. Before he could turn it, Dimitri dashes to him, hoping to sever his limbs. At the last second, Gaser moves his hand, leaving Dimitri to hit the core, which shows no sign of any damage. Gaser immediately grabs Dimitri by the arm and flings him against a wall. He doesn't give Dimitri time to stand before he tackles him against it, beginning to repeatedly bash Dimitri's head against it. "What's wrong," he speaks between each hit, "I thought I was a push over before," he grabs Dimitri by the neck and throws him down, "now you can't handle a little bruising." Dimitri tries to get up before Gaser lands a straight kick onto the side of his head, flinging him across the street, unconscious.

With Dimitri out cold, Gaser turns his attention to the roof of the building Dimitri left Liz on. He jumps up and finds her in shock. As he walks towards her, she musters up the courage to punch him in the stomach, but it did little to help. He picks her up onto his shoulder and heads for the Space Needle.

"This is Gaser," he speaks, holding his fingers against his ear piece. "I need a pick up at the top of the Space Needle."

"Is the sample in your possession?" the voice asks back.

He rams through the doors and proceeds, calmly, into the elevator. He reaches into his pocket, holding a small vial. "Yes, but I'll also need a stasis pod ready, we have a guest."

"Is the specimen in your possession?"

"Trust me, he will be."

He reaches the top in a matter of minutes. Anyone in the structure begin running as they see this man. He lets Liz down, who proceeds to hit him repeatedly, but that only agitates him. "Knock it off!"

"Dimitri will… will… make you pay for this," she yells at him.

"Oh, that's what I'm hoping, little bait. It'll make transport easier if I have leverage to make him comply."

Liz is frustrated by his cocky attitude. "Why not just take him now?"

He gives a small chuckle. "Now, where's the fun in that," he grabs her by the neck, swinging her to face her towards the windows. Soon after, Dimitri crashes through them, his claw marks evident on the side of the building. He stares at Gaser with fury in his eyes. Gaser holds Liz close to one of the vents, the other hand holding onto the knob. "Any sudden moves, and she gets a face full of virus."

Dimitri doesn't risk getting any closer. "She has nothing to do with this."

"If she didn't, you would have killed me now. Maybe I'll just kill her now."

He mocks Dimitri, paying no attention to Liz. She soon remembers something; she still has the shard in her jacket pocket. She pulls it out and, using all the strength she has, forces it into Gaser's stomach, right next to the Core. A jolt of electricity runs through his body, causing him to let her go to remove the shard. "YOU PIECE OF…," he's furious, instantly turning the knob, only to have it do nothing. He looks down at it and repeatedly twists it, unaware of Dimitri moving towards him. "WHAT DID YOU…," he looks up to see him, "UH… wait a minute," he stops and tries to punch Dimitri. Dimitri catches his fist and crushes it in his hand. Gaser screams in pain as he's grabbed by the neck and carried to the elevator. Dimitri opens it as a large spike begins to form on his other hand's palm. Suddenly, he rams it into Gaser's neck, pinning him to the elevator wall, leaving him to flail while the doors close. With violent intent, Dimitri rips open the walls surrounding it to get to the cables holding the elevator, severing them, leaving it to plummet to the ground.

A loud crash is heard as fire begins to build at the bottom. Dimitri soon reverts back to normal. He turns to see a frightened Liz. "Are you alright?" he asks.

"Y-yeah," she finds it difficult to answer, "I think so."

"Good, we'll get your things and leave immediately."

"B-but… that guy…," she starts before being interrupted.

"Is not walking out of that. Now," he extends his hand to her, "let's go."

She complies and he carries her off the tower, stopping at the hotel to grab her things and heads straight for the airport, leaving the damage caused by this struggle.

They manage to catch the next plane before it leaves, sneaking onto it without anyone noticing. Thankfully, it had very few riders, so it wasn't too difficult. They take their seats and try to relax. The ride is silent, neither one feeling like they want to talk. Liz manages to break the silence. "Y-you were pretty good out there."

"Yeah," Dimitri says nothing else as he stares out the window. Liz feels saddened wondering how bad he feels about getting her in danger. "It's alright," she says, "no one would have guess this would happen."

He answers, knowing what she's referring to. "I'm sorry, I wasn't prepared for any of that. I'm not a violent person."

"I believe you, but we're safe, that's all that matters."

"Thank you, but I have a bad feeling about this. They've seen you, and now they'll be looking for you."

"They'll have to get through your bad side first."

"This is serious," his tone changes, "we'll need to warn Dekar."

"I'm sorry," she feels saddened by this.

"I'm sorry, but…," Dimitri struggles to speak, something else that's out of character for him. "I don't know what to do."

"We could warn the B.S.A.A.," Liz suggests.

"M-maybe, I just need to relax first, let calmer minds prevail."

Liz stays silent, letting Dimitri think about what to do. He's right, but only Gaser really saw her, and it's unlikely he survived that fall. Hopefully, this won't turn for the worst anymore so.

They soon land back in Ralton, Heading straight for Liz's apartment. "Okay," Dimitri starts, "I want you to stay here. I'll get Dekar and…," he's interrupted and Joan runs out and a frantic fashion.

"You're back?!" she stumbles for a moment. "It's bad, someone has Dekar."

Dimitri stares in shock, trying to process what she said. "What?!"

Joan catches her breath and speaks. "We found someone in the forest. Some freak or… something. But this big guy took them both. They need help, NOW."


	7. Ch 7 Encounter

**_18 Hours Earlier_**

Joan and Dekar head out on one of her explorations of the forest soon after Dimitri and Liz left. They reach the forested area and begin taking pictures and samples of the native wildlife. Within the hour, Dekar becomes bored of the experience while Joan continues on. "I don't get it," he asks. "What exactly are we looking for in this crap, both figurative and literal."

Joan answers him without stopping. "We, or I at this rate, are studying the ecosystem and the wildlife for signs of unique mutations in these animals compared to ones in other states. It's fascinating how they could actually live here, yet the desert region just outside the mountain range would be impossible for them. This isolated evolutionary ecosystem could even mean new species and...," she finally looks to him to see him sleeping while standing up. He wakes up and responds. "Wah… sorry, you lost me after blah, blah, Bill Nye or whatever."

"Whenever I make an effort with you, you put yourself on that thin line of annoyance with me."

"Hey, just because I'm a byproduct of illegal science doesn't mean I care too much about it. I'm pretty sure I made that clear by now."

* * *

Near the road within the forest, connecting the city to the mountains, a large truck drives down it. Its condition is far beyond acceptable, showing signs of massive damage and gun shot holes, all taking their toll on it until it finally breaks down. The driver pulls over as the truck finally stops and steps out of it. The driver, curiously, is a young girl, appearing only about 16 of age, physically, wearing an oversized, green coat, a tank top shirt, and shorts. Her short, brown hair covers her face, showing a sign of panic and concern. Then, she calmly starts walking in the direction of the city, showing no care as to how far it is. From the forest, she's watched over by something, hiding its presence. Unknown to either of them, a large figure stands on the cliffs a few miles away from them, staring out as if it can see them.

* * *

Dekar and Joan continue walking through the forest, much farther than she ever dared before. Dekar told her he has "impeccable" navigation skills, and could lead her out if necessary, prompting her to take the chance and head deeper into the forest. They come upon an old path, the weeds and vines having taken over, but present enough to be recognizable. They walk down it towards the base of one of the smaller mountains closer to the interior. Without warning, as Joan takes a step forward, she feels the floor give way and she falls. In that instant, Dekar takes the jump and grabs her, holding her up as he takes the brunt of the drop. After the fall, she loosens her grip to look up at her savior. "T-thank you."

" _No problema, Chica."_

He puts her down as they stare at a sight to behold. At the bottom of the drop, they find an abandoned mining factory, different buildings strewn about throughout a massive area, conveyor belts still having boulders on them and large driving equipment left behind. Dekar finds something off about it, the whole layout looking chaotic and messy. He turns around to look at the cliff, finding the path having risen up and what's left of it right below them. " _Dios Mio,_ what the hell happened here?" he asks.

"That's right," she replies, "you wouldn't know about this. Twenty years ago, this area had many valuable minerals under the ground, some for manufacturing, others for money."

Dekar stops her before she continues. "Wait… did an air pocket give way?"

"I thought you didn't know anything?" she questions.

"Yeah, but my home has mines too. You have to watch out for air pockets, empty cracks and underground caves. One wrong move and BOOM, everything above it collapses."

"That's what happened here, they accidently built the place right above one. However, it was so big that it evened out at the bottom. Basically, almost everything went down a level, almost everything," she reiterates as she points to the top. Dekar looks up to see cranes hanging down and buildings ripped in half, all on the outskirts of the air pocket.

"I'll be honest," she finishes, "I didn't think anything would be left after this long."

Dekar gives a knock on one of the machines. "By the looks of it, they had plans to be here for years to come, emphasis on _had._ "

Joan looks back to the cliff and calls for Dekar. "Hey, let's go, I don't want any of this stuff falling on us. Can you jump out?" She waits for a reply, but gets nothing.

"... Dekar?"

She looks around and finds him gone. Unknown to her, he found something, something unnerving, even for him. He goes off into the area and finds blood marks on the walls, fresh. He finds a blood trail and follows it, only to find a gruesome sight. He finds a dead bear, the meat and organs ripped out of the body. He becomes worried and runs back to find Joan, who's now looking to each building. She calls out to him some more, looking every which way for him. "Dekar, I swear, if you're pulling another prank on me…," she stops as she sees a door move from one of the buildings. As she peaks in, the light shines through a hole in the roof, right next to someone crouched on the ground. Her fears dissipate as she sees the unmistakable shape of his hair. She walks over to him, "Dekar, stop messing around and let's go."

Before the figure starts moving, she hears something behind her. She turns to see… Dekar, outside, staring in fear at what's behind her. As she turns back, she stares in fright as the figure stands, towering over her like a giant. She looks into his face, covered in a full metal helmet, spikes protruding all over the back while the front shows a gnarly, triangular smile with similar eyes. The figure raises a massive bowie knife over her before striking. Dekar charges in, pushing her out of the way, tackling the being through the wall, but not before it rams the knife straight through his shoulder, coming out the other side. He keeps his grip on the knife hard, forcing it to rip out of Dekar as he's knock across into another building. Joan runs over to Dekar, seeing the massive gash between his shoulder and neck. However, before she can say anything, it closes in no time. "D-DEKAR, ARE YOU OK?!"

"R-run. Now," he replies.

"What?!" she looks out to see the figure standing back up, unphased by the attack.

"RUN," Dekar yells out, having Joan leave as he stands to fight, cracking his knuckles and picking up a nearby metal rod. They walk towards each other as Dekar talks. "I don't know what the fuck you are, but YOU'RE…," he yells out as he swings the rod right into the figure's side. The rod breaks on his body, doing nothing to him. He towers over Dekar as he finishes in shock. "...dead?"

The figure, one handedly, grabs him by the throat and picks him up as he struggles. He throws him over the building and onto the ground. Before Dekar could regain focus, the figure runs straight through the building and tackles into him, pinning him against one the machinery. Suddenly, he rams his fist through Dekar and into the machine, pulling out and leaving a massive blood pool. Dekar slumps to the ground, clutching his chest. Suddenly, he springs to life, grabbing a rock and smashing it into the figures helmet, causing him to stumble back in surprise. Dekar charges him, the wound already closed, growing large claws on his fingers, and slashes at his chest repeatedly. He turns to see the figure look to his wounds, which heal much slower than expected. "As I am now saying," Dekar flicks the blood off his claws, "let's do this," giving a massive grin.

Dekar charges at him, thrusting his fingers into his gut, showing no sign of staggering. He kicks him off and slashes at him with the massive bowie knife, however, much slower than Dekar. Dekar slashes at his legs, his sides, his arms, but nothing fazes him. As he ducks behinds him, he makes a go for the head. As he makes contact, his claws, and fingers, break on the helmet. He reels back in pain, "Ow, DAMN IT," giving the figure the chance to whirl around and smash right into him, sending him flying. Dekar lands on his feet, but is caught off guard by the figures burst of speed, charging right into him, picking him up as he runs. Dekar stabs at his back, his claws and fingers regenerated, but to no avail to stopping him. He's pinned against the ground as the figure socks him repeatedly in the face. Dekar moves his head, giving him a second to stab the figure in the throat. It reels back, covering the area as blood spews out. Dekar takes the chance to get behind him and lodge his claws into the figures neck, ready to rip the bones out. However, he's unable to move them or break them at all. "What the hell do you have, metal for bones?!"

Joan stares off at them, hiding behind one of the buildings, praying that Dekar makes it, no telling what the big guy will do to her. The figure catches Dekar as he picks him up while his claws are still lodged into his neck. He falls back right on top of him, cracking bones. The figure stands, but so does Dekar. They stare each other down. "Ok," Dekar yells, "how bout we play serious now," he charges at him. The two charge at each other, appearing to miss as they stand back to back. Joan looks on as, out of nowhere, the figure's body erupts with blood, cuts and wounds opening across his body, holes torn into his clothes, soaking them in blood before he finally kneels down. Dekar stands, gloating as he raises his bloodied fists into the air. "And that, my wonderful spectator, is how it's done."

He looks off to her for a sign of amazement, only to see her stare in horror. Dekar's attitude drops as he turns to see the figure, standing now. He swings at Dekar, slicing his hands clean off. As Dekar stares down at his stumps, he's shocked to see his opponent still standing. "How… did you…," he's cut off as the figure makes another swing, lopping off his head, sending it flying the other way.

Joan falls to her knees in utter terror, tears beginning to well up in her eyes. She manages to hide from sight as Dekar's body falls to the floor, blood gushing from the neck. The figure sheaths his bowie knife and walks off, climbing out of the area and into the forest, unphased by any damage he received. Joan is left wandering to where Dekar's head landed, tears streaming out of her eyes as she looks down to see it, the expression of shock still on his face. She lets out a cry of sorrow and kneels down in front of it, her head down in pain. She mutters what she can over her cries. "D-Dekar… oh my god…, oh my god." She gives way to her sobs and lies there in grief. Suddenly, she hears a voice calling to her, as if right in front of her. "Psst… hey," she looks to the head as it talks, "is he gone?"

In utter fear, she screams in terror and kicks the head away. "OW, WHAT WAS THAT FOR?!" it calls to her.

Dekar's head suddenly starts calling to her. "HEY, A LITTLE HELP!"

She walks over to it in disgust and fear, thinking she's gone crazy. "No, you're not crazy," the head can read her expressions, "I'm just… a little scattered. Just… could you please… pick me up and put me on the body. That would be nice." She stares in fear, but manages to comply, pulling him up by his hair. "Okay, ow, ow, that hurts. Just, ow, take me to it, ow, ow."

She manages to put the stump right where the neck should be, backing off in disgust and rubbing her hands on her clothes frantically. In that moment, the flesh reconnects the head and body, now standing up as he goes for his hands. Suddenly, Joan hears scuttling behind her. She turns to see the hands crawling back to Dekar, growing sharp, insect-like limbs to help. They dig back into their spots to Dekar's relief. "Okay…, now… let's go and…," he's cut off as Joan grabs him, hugging him tightly in relief. "THANK GOD YOU'RE OKAY. I… I THOUGHT YOU…," she's unable to finish. Dekar lets this happen as he enjoys the snuggling. Within a few seconds, Joan realizes what she's doing and shoves him off, returning to her natural state, realizing who she's hugging. "I'm… I'm happy you're okay," she gives a pouting face.

"Believe me," Dekar replies, "none of your gods could help me. Mine, on the other hand," he pulls out a small necklace from his shirt pocket, holding a small, cross-like figure with five prongs, looking more like a parasite than a symbol. "Is that part of your religion?" she asks.

" _Los Illuminados, morir es vivir_ ," he repeats the chant as he holds the symbol to his body. He grabs Joan's hand and puts the necklace in it. "Good luck for next time."

"Uh… ok… thanks." She looks at it and, after a quick thought, decides to put it on. "So, what are we gonna do about Mr. Terminator up there."

They begin walking out of the area as Dekar explains. "I don't know what the hell he was, but he's far stronger than I thought. He's on par with my brother, and that's not good. I'm hoping Dimitri gets back soon, because I can't beat him alone. What scares me is that… he was like us, I could feel it."

Joan interrupts him. "You mean he's not just a mutate?"

"Yes. That should be impossible though, all others of our genetic material shouldn't exist."

"So, he's a new one created by Entity?"

"No, something wasn't right. If it were them, he would've taken my body for them, but he didn't. Something else was wrong. I don't know what, but I thought I saw someone the moment he took my head off, in the trees above us. I want to look at the area there."

They head over to where Dekar thought he saw the other figure. All he finds, though, is a small bit of green cloth.

"Someone was definitely here."

"So," Joan asks, "what do we do now?"

"We leave it alone."

"What? Dekar, you saw what that thing did to you. If he finds his way into the city…," he cuts her off.

"He won't. He wasn't trying to kill us either. If he did, he would've looked for you. No, he was protecting something," he holds up the cloth, "or someone."

"So, you're saying we should find the person. Can you catch the sent or… something?"

"I can't, besides, I need rest. It's been a while since I've been out of the field, but I doubt I could've killed him either way. Whatever he is, whoever he's protecting, we _need_ Dimitri. I'm afraid we'll have to wait. We'll head back, I'll head to base and recuperate. You stay home, out of sight. You're stronger now, but I don't want you risking your life. Unlike me, you don't have a reset button. I'll search for them on my own. If I find the person, great. If I find him, crap. Our only hope is Dimitri."

Joan, still shaken by the whole experience, agrees with him. They make it back to the car and head off. She drops Dekar off at his place and heads straight home.


	8. Ch 8 Anastacia

The sun nears setting, the sky becomes a bright orange, gradually becoming darker and darker until night eclipses the light. Dekar stares out from the roof of the main building of the factory, constantly thinking about the consequences if the figure really makes it into the city. He thinks to himself, trying to make sense of his actions.

' _What do you want? What's your gain? Why are you here? Who are you protecting?'_

He looks down to the cloth he found, the only conclusive evidence of another person, but he's starting to doubt if it ever was someone related to the guy in the first place. For all he knows, it was there for a while.

' _Dimitri was always smarter than me,'_ he stands up, stretching his arms and jumping to the ground, landing with a thud. ' _That being said, I was always more resourceful."_

Dekar decides to return to the forest, find any sign of the figure, staying as far out of sight as possible.

* * *

Joan remains in her home, anxious about the whole affair. First, she thought her friend was dead, now she sees him concerned, and he has never been that concerned. The thought of anyone being stronger than him seemed more like a dream than reality, but it's the truth. Now that thing can be anywhere. She walks over to her window, staring out of it with a mix of boredom and helplessness.

' _What am I supposed to do? Should I call the police, no, they wouldn't stand a chance. The B.S.A.A., uh, how would I even contact them. I want to help, but…,'_

As she looks out the window, she sees people walk by as usual on the street. However, she's not sure if it's because of all the time she spent with Dekar, but she feels something strange about one of them, a small girl, wearing an oversized, green coat. Suddenly, she notices a small tear on the sleeve, as if a chunk of it came off. Somehow, even from within her home, the girl notices the feeling of being watched and turns to her, seeing her through the window. Both stare at each other in shock, and without warning, the girl takes off running.

Dekar really has gotten to her, because Joan's instincts tell her to chase her, and she does. She races after her, ignoring anyone around her. Anyone that tries to stop her, she just shoves off with ease. The girl does her best to avoid attention, heading into more and more deserted areas. During the chase, they find themselves alone amongst abandoned buildings in the downtown area. Joan stops for a moment to get her bounds on the area. At the corner of her eye, she sees the girl duck into an old warehouse. Joan rushes into the building, but the girl disappears. Inside, only the light from the windows are available. What detail she can see are the walkways above and abandoned boiler-looking machines. Joan uses what training she has to stay alert, staying focused all around her. She hears scuttling all around her as more time passes.

Without warning, the girl strikes with a bowie knife. Joan dodges, catching a glimpse of the knife. It was the exact same one the figure used, the size and shape were the same. Joan backs away to gain distance on her, but she charges. Sparring with Dekar has given her greater awareness, by comparison, she's slower than him. Joan finds no issue dodging her slashes and stabs, but that's not it. The girl is attacking radically, as if she had no training. Joan finds her opening and catches her arm as she goes for a stab. She pulls the knife out of her hand and pins her to the ground, holding her arm behind her. "Okay, enough," Joan orders for answers. "Tell me, who the hell are you people. Were you sent here to kill Dekar and Dimitri?"

The girl struggles to look at her, but she's able to see who she's fighting. "W-wait. Your… not… with Entity?"

"W-what," Joan doesn't loosen her grip, but she's shocked. "You thought we were…, wait. Who are you?"

As Joan looks down at her, she doesn't see some conniving villain or psycho. She sees a scared girl, beginning to cry in pain. Joan let's go and helps her up, she makes no further assaults. "You… you were running from us."

"Please," she begs of Joan, "tell me, are you of his family?"

"Family?" In the instant, Joan gasps and recalls Dekar's words.

" _All others of our genetic material shouldn't exist…_

 _He was like us… I could feel it…"_

Joan looks to her, seeing how desperate she is for an answer. "I'm sorry," she starts, "I don't know much. I'm not with them, but I can help you talk to them, if you trust me."

In that instant, the girl wraps her arms around Joan, holding her tight as she repeats "thank you," over and over. Joan stops her speaks. "Where is your friend, the big guy?"

"Havoc… he's… he's not here?" She begins frantically looking around. Joan catches her attention. "Havoc? That's him, right? What's wrong?!"

"I… I can't feel him. He's gone, someone took _moya lyubov_ '."

"Moy… what? We need to find him, now."

The girl paces back and forth, trying to think of where he could be, until, she has a thought. "The mines, he might be out there still. Let's go."

"Tell me first," Joan stops her before they rush to the car, "what's your name?"

"Ana, now let's go."

* * *

Dekar looks throughout the entire forest, trying to find any evidence of the figure's whereabouts. "Damn it," he mutters under his breath, "how can a giant jackass like him hide?!"

He stops in the tops of the trees, thinking of anything that could lead him to the figure. However, not even his instincts are enough to guide him. Soon, he decides to retrace his steps, going back to the factory for clues. On his way, however, the ground begins to shake, and not from an earthquake. Dekar looks ahead and sees a massive amount of dust and earth in the air, like an explosion. As he nears the factory, he sees the culprit. As the dust settles he can see an impact mark in the ground, the figure in the middle of it. Soon, he also sees the one responsible, a humanoid creature, the body completely incase in black leathering, even on the face, with metal chunks of restraints and bolts around it, like armor. In the center of its chest, Dekar sees a metal harness holding a knob in the center, connected to several tubes riddled through its body. "You gotta be fucking kidding," Dekar says, "another one?"

The creature turns in his direction, staring at him for a moment, as far as Dekar can tell. Suddenly, it leaps into the air straight towards him with great bursts of speed, catching Dekar off guard. Before he can react, the creature smashes into his left shoulder, sending his arm flying off as he hits the ground.

Dekar regains focus and looks to his missing arm, not in pain, but in annoyance. "HEY, ASSHOLE," he yells at it as it lands on the ground, "THAT'S GONNA TAKE ME FOREVER TO FIND, LONGER TO REGROW IT!"

Dekar makes his remaining hand into a massive clawed weapon, charging straight to the creature. He slashes at it, only to break the claws on his body repeatedly. As he pauses, gauching at his hand, he notices the stacher of the creature, three times as tall and much more muscular than he is. The creature looks down at him and laughs. "Worthless abomination," it actually says as it raises its foot above Dekar and stomps onto him. He rams his body into the ground, almost breaking his ribcage. However, he looks down to see him spit at him. "Is… is that all you got?" coughing up blood.

"Another freak of nature," the creature says to himself. "I'll take you both back for my master to decide." With that, he picks up Dekar's broken body as it heals and heads for a nearby cave, picking up Havoc on the way.

* * *

Joan and Ana race through the forest path as they try to hurry, but the terrain slows them down. Joan looks to Ana, seeing the fear in her eyes, worrying heavily for this Havoc. "Hey," Joan tries to comfort her, "don't worry, I'm sure he's fine. If it helps, he beat Dekar no problem, making him the toughest guy I know now. He can hold his own, right?" Suddenly, she hits the breaks as something hits her windshield, Dekar's arm. Ana gasps in horror, Joan is just as freaked out. However, with her experience with this already, she musters up the courage to leave the car and head over to the factory while Ana remained..

Joan manages to find the mining sight, coming at the tail end of the encounter, waiting by the cliff drop. Out by the old mines, she sees the large creature dragging Havoc and Dekar into it. The sight of her friend being taken so easily causes her to go after them. Suddenly, before she could go, she feels a tug on her leg. She looks down in shock to see the arm, having sprouted claws for legs and a circular mouth on the severed opening. She kicks in away in fear, noticing it starting to claw at the ground. As she stands, she sees the message it's leaving in the ground. "Leave, get Dimi." Her focus turns back to Dekar. She can just barely see him looking at her, an expression of "stay away" as he pretends to be unconscious. Reluctantly, Joan complies with what he's trying to tell her, taking the arm and heading back to the car. She tosses the crawling arm back in the trunk.

* * *

Against her better judgement, she and Ana drive back to the apartment, forcing themselves to wait for backup. Ana is the most annoyed by this. "Why did we leave? Can't you help him, call the B.S.A.A. or something?!"

"I CAN'T," Joan replies, "I don't know how to contact them. Dekar and Dimitri weren't even supposed to be out here. He isn't picking up and… I don't know what to do."

Ana slams her head against the table in defeat. Joan tries her best to comfort her.

"Hey, I'm sorry," she says in a calming manner. "Look, you don't have to be scared."

"I'm not a child," Ana replies with annoyance, "I'm already 19, I'm worried for him, ok?"

"Oh… I didn't mean…, but… you look so…," Joan couldn't finish that statement.

"Young? Small? It's hereditary, OK?!" Ana snaps at her before continuing. "I'm sorry. It's just that… he's all I have left. I thought you could help him, get him back to normal. He wasn't always like that. Something happened to him and… I don't know what. I just want him better."

"Ana, they're strong. They'll survive. Once Dimitri gets here, we'll stop whatever that thing is."

Hearing that put Ana's mind at ease. Suddenly, they here a car outside. They look out and see a taxi, dropping off Dimitri and Liz. With no delay, Joan rushes out to tell them what has happened.


	9. Ch 9 Codename: Colossus

Everyone gathers around the table, Dimitri processes the situation and tries to think of a plan. The girls sit quietly, waiting for him to finish thinking. With the urgency of the situation, Dimitri soon finishes and explains his plan. "I'm going to find them and take the creature down."

"Dimitri," Joan exclaims, "with all do respect, shouldn't you call for backup? Can you really beat whatever that thing is?"

"If I call anyone, the entire area will be quarantined, including the city. At this scale, that won't be necessary. I'll kill it and leave no trace, simple as that."

At first, they think he's over confident. However, Liz can see it in his eyes, he's serious, and she has seen how serious he can get, as far as she knows.

* * *

Dimitri wastes no time and rushes off to the forest, simply running, as he's much faster on feet than by car. After ten minutes, he's already at the border of the forest, being only a hop, skip, and a jump from the mine. Unknown to him, spy cameras placed in the trees are able to track his movement, set up by the creature. Within the cave, the creature looks to several monitors, watching as Dimitri comes closer. He has shrunk in size, appearing more humanoid than before. He pulls out a small orb of metal and speaks into it. "Master, you were right. The third specimen is on his way. What shall I do with him and the others?"

The orb resonates with a response. " _The others are failures, as you know well. Use them as bait. Once you overpower the third, take him to us. As for the others, kill them._ "

Deeper in the cave, down a small cavern, Dekar and Havoc are bound by metal bars against the wall. Every inch of their bodies are completely trapped, Dekar unable to move any way and Havoc sitting there. Dekar manages to inch his head to the side to look at Havoc, still wearing the helmet from before. Even though he's unconscious, the sight of it still sends shivers down his spine. "Hey," he calls to him, "are you awake? I can't tell."

No response.

"Look, I think we got off on the wrong foot. _Hola, yo soy Dekar, y tu?"_

Still no response.

Dekar looks away and talks to himself. "Can he even understand me? Ahhhh, what does it matter. Whether he's an ally or not, we're both fucked if that guy gets back." Suddenly, he starts looking around, searching for any signs of cameras. Before he can react, the creature comes back, stepping right up to Dekar. "You don't deserve to live."

"Uhh…, hi? What the fuck was that for?"

He kneels down to look him in the eyes, his own showing a faint light glowing behind the mask. "You think you superior, but you and this monster are nothing," he points to Havoc. "You're a reject. But your brother has value, and once I have him, you two are good as dead."

"I just have one thing to say. … He's not my brother, he's my cousin. And for the record, fuck you too."

He reluctantly leaves to deal with Dimitri.

* * *

Dimitri makes it to the entrance of the mines, awaiting the creature's arrival. It doesn't take long as he appears from the dark. "I'm guessing you're the one who has my friends?" Dimitri asks.

"Your _friends_ are nothing but fools and rejected life forms. They shouldn't even be alive."

Dimitri, angered by the comment, begins removing his shirt. "You have no right to judge them. You're the real monster. You're a sad excuse of a human who thinks self-destruction is better than dying a person," his skin begins to crawl as the plating appears, along with spikes growing from his knuckles as he takes a stance.

The creature reaches for his knob and turns it, causing his body to grow unnaturally; muscles expanding, flesh distorting, size increasing, becoming a goliath that barely fits in the cave. Throughout all this, he speaks. "You know nothing of the hell I endured to wipe these abominations from the face of this planet. If I had it my way, you'd be dead already. But, my master sees purpose in you, and his guidance has never failed me."

" _Verden,"_ Dimitri thinks to himself, knowing who his master is. The creature crawls through the cavern, what little space there is running out as he staggers out. "I, Colossus, will show you true POWER," he raises his fists into the air and slams them down, causing Dimitri to back away in defense. Suddenly, Colossus charges towards him, leaving him to take the attack head on.

* * *

In the cave, Dekar begins pondering what he should do as the quakes from the battle begin. "Shit, he needs my help," he mutters as he starts cracking his own arm, causing it the squeeze from the openings around the metal. The broken arm soon heals, freed and growing a blade to cut away at the metal. However, before he starts, Dekar notices something unsettling. Havoc's body begins to convulse. He twitches more and more with each passing second, his body slowly moving out as the metal breaks like nothing. With a thunderous snap, he's freed. As he rises, he looks back to Dekar before leaving the cave. "Hey," Dekar calls out to him, "aren't you gonna help me? Come on."

He doesn't give him a second glance and walks to the cavern with the monitors. He looks around before he finds his knife lodged into the wall. He yanks it out and proceeds outside of the cave.

* * *

Inside Joan's apartment, the girls wait in silence, finding it uncomfortable just waiting around for Dimitri and the others to return. As Joan rests on the coach, Liz notices Ana going towards her. She looks down at Joan for a moment before turning back to Liz. She stares at her for a moment before Liz speaks up. "Listen, I know you're concerned for you friend, but don't worry. Dimitri can handle it, and with him and Dekar, I bet they'll take him down, no problem."

Ana looks at her for a moment before asking, "Which way is it to the bathroom?"

"Oh, it's down the hall to the left."

"Thank you."

She leaves for a few minutes before Joan starts waking up. Suddenly, Liz notices her searching her pockets. "What's wrong?" she asks.

"My keys," she responds, "they're gone!"

Without warning, they hear a car outside, speeding off onto the street from the apartment parking lot. It doesn't take long for them to realize what happened. Liz opens the bathroom door to find Ana was gone, the window wide open.

* * *

Dimitri dodges as Colossus charges after him, bashing himself against anything he hits. Dimitri takes every opportunity to strike him, jabbing him in the sides, knees, and the back of the neck, but each attack fails. Colossus doesn't even respond to the hits as he swings around and slams his massive fist into his side, knocking him into one of the buildings. The force of impact causes it all to collapse. Dimitri digs out of the ruddle before Colossus slams his foot onto him, but he moves at the last second. In an instant, Dimitri finds a metal rod amongst the rubble and charges, running it through Colossus's neck as he jumps over him. As he lands, he turns to face him, only to receive a large foot to the… everything. He's knocked away, rolling on the ground. Colossus shows no response to any trauma he feels, yanking the rod out of his neck with ease.

Before Dimitri could stand, his body is pinned down under Colossus's foot, slowly crushing him. "You're weak," Colossus says, "just a fool who doesn't know he's outclassed."

Suddenly, Colossus turns towards the cave, sensing something that unsettles him. Dimitri looks to find Havoc emerging from the darkness. However, he notices something unsettling. With each step, Havoc twitches violently, his clothes becoming drenched in blood. Soon, he starts removing his helmet, taking out a triangular piece locking it on from the side of his head. The Helmet pops into two halves, revealing his gnarled, toothy grin, the massive teeth overlapping the lips, a common trait amongst his kind in moments of rage. He lets out a bellowing roar that shakes them both to the core. The clothes are soon torn off as his muscles grow in size, but that's not what disturbs them. All over his body, bloody eyes appear, all looking at Colossus. In the moment, Dimitri takes the chance as his fingers grow claws to jam his hand into Colossus's heel, ripping at the tendons. Colossus reels back in pain, freeing Dimitri as he backs away. Before Dimitri could do anything, Havoc charges at Colossus, ramming into him and pushing him with immense force. Even for his size, Colossus is flung away as he lands on the ground with a mighty thud.

Dimitri looks to him in amazement.

 _What power!_

However, his gratitude is short lived as he tries to approach him. Havoc simply flings him away as he swings his arm into him. The blow sending him high into the air before he hits the ground. Dimitri feels the bones in his arm and torso cracked and splintered. As he recovers, so does Colossus, enraged by Havoc's assault. "Worthless MAGGOT!" he yells at him as he charges. Havoc makes no effort to dodge or run; he simply walks towards him, gaining speed in the last few seconds as they collide. Shockingly, it's Colossus whose being pushed back as Havoc holds him off. Dimitri is left staring at the display of unyielding force that Havoc has become. However, Colossus takes no chances and begins backing away.

He starts hitting Havoc with all his might, ramming his body into the ground. On his last punch, however, Havoc catches the fist and digs in, through the suit and flesh, gripping the bones. He proceeds to viciously bite at the wrist, ripping away chunks of flesh and bone before the hand comes off, leaving Colossus to roar in pain. In anger, he kicks Havoc high into the air, leaving him heading straight for the sides of the pit they're fighting in.

As he falls from the wall, a crane perched precariously above him begins to move before stopping. Dimitri sees the opportunity and charges for Colossus, using all his strength to ram his hand into where Colossus' eyes are while he's still recovering from the severed hand. He goes arm deep as he yanks it out, leaving Colossus in utter pain, before dashing towards Havoc. As he stands, he sees them both coming straight for him, but he takes them on and charges too. Dimitri takes the chance to divert Havoc's attention towards him, not wanting to risk his life, as he makes a turn to the left. However, Havoc stays the course, heading straight for Colossus as they collide. Colossus manages to get the upper hand and grab Havoc with his good hand, forcing him back. Even more bad news, he stops right before hitting the wall, leaving the crane to dangle still.

He turns to Dimitri with delight. "What? You think I'm that much of a fool," he proceeds to throw Havoc to the ground to step on him. However, in the last second, Havoc reaches for his knife, landing it straight through Colossus' foot. Like a hot knife through butter, he cuts it to pieces, metal and all, along with Colossus. The strength and sharpness of the knife is unreal. He finishes with a massive slit in his throat, spraying blood all over.

Dimitri looks on, unaware of the new presence. He sees a quick glimpse of a appendage stretching to the crane and yanking it down. It comes crashing on top of both Havoc and Colossus, sending a cloud of dust into the air. As the dust settles, he sees Dekar appear from the cave, his arm returning to his side and reforming. Soon, it's calm enough to let cooler minds prevail.

"Dekar," Dimitri says with frustration.

"What," he responds, "they were both trying to kill us."

"No, one of them wasn't."

"Oh, really? Then that was a love tap he did with you, right?"

Without warning, a chunk of the crane flies straight into Dekar, ripping his body in half. Dimitri is left stunned as Havoc crawls out of the rubble, bloodied and beaten, but alive, and pissed. He charges for Dimitri as they lock hands. Havoc forces him down onto his knees as he pushes him back. Havoc's sheer strength gets the better of Dimitri as the armor plates on his arms begin to crack. He manages to stand and toss Havoc to the side, giving him a few seconds to breath as he regains his balance. Havoc turns to him and Dekar, who's left staring up at them as he tries to reattach his legs.

Suddenly, Havoc goes full force, bashing Dimitri to the side as he head for Dekar. Dimitri regains his balance and leaps onto him, ramming his fingers into his collar bone. Havoc roars in pain as he snaps Dimitri's arm off and throws him to the ground, pinning him down by the throat. He raises his knife to tear his head to pieces, but he soon stops as a voice calls out to him.

"HAVOC!"

He turns to see Ana, having rolled down into the pit with tears in her eyes.

"PLEASE! STOP THIS! THEY WANT TO HELP YOU, NOT FIGHT!"

The moment dies down. Havoc slowly releases Dimitri as he walks towards her, leaving them to clean themselves up, and dropping his knife. Havoc walks to her in distress; he's concerned for her. As he does so, Dekar notices something on the back of his skull, something shining. Havoc and Ana look at each other. He kneels down to better see her face to face. He slowly reaches out with his hands, wiping the tears away. She does the same and clutches his face.

" _Moya lyubov_ '," she whispers to him, "please, let them help you."

He closes his eyes as he calms himself. Dimitri is left staring on. However, he hears something from the rubble of the crane. He sees Colossus, raising a metal rod and planning to throw it. Without delay, he reaches for Havoc's knife and throws it at him, but he's too late. Colossus throws it right as the knife splits his head in two and is imbedded in the wall behind him. The rod pierces both Havoc and Ana in the stomach. The shock causes Ana to pull away, leaving Havoc enraged and charging towards them, yanking the rod out as a weapon. However, in the last moment, Dekar extends his arm and tendrils clamp onto the object in the back of his head and yank out the metal piece, causing a spur of blood to rupture out of it. Havoc stands motionless before falling to the ground, unconscious, reverting to his normal form.

Dimitri quickly checks on him, to find him still alive, before checking on Ana. However, he's left staring as she clutches her stomach, showing the wound closing up like nothing happened. She looks on at him as he realizes what she is, a mutate as well. Dekar finally reattaches his legs, walking over to Havoc to see his wounds closing too. They look to each other for a moment, knowing what they have to do. Suddenly, Dimitri looks on at the collapsed crane again. Dekar turns to see what he sees, another being, pulling Colossus' shrunken body out of the debris. Dimitri is left speechless because it is Gaser. All he gets is a stare from him before he hops out of the pit, leaving nothing behind.

* * *

Hours go by, and Joan and Liz are passed out on the coach, having waited for them for most of the night. They soon stir awake as the door opens. They see Dimitri has returned, along with Ana and Dekar in one piece. They spring to life and run to them. Liz grabs Dimitri in a hug, happy that he is safe. Joan tries to comfort Dekar, but she gets a spare arm waving in her face.

"You left this in your trunk," Dekar questions her. "Now, I know you had a long day, but how the hell do you leave an arm in your trunk?!"

She proceeds to punch him in the shoulder before responding. "I'm glad you're safe."

"Yeah, I know. But we can't stay long."

"He's right," Dimitri answers. "Havoc's passed out right now, so we need to take him back to our place before anyone notices."

"Will he be alright?" Ana begs the question.

"He's received massive trauma to the brain," he looks to Dekar.

"What the hell was I supposed to do? He was about to give you the Bane."

"In any case, he will recover, we just don't know how long it will take. In the meantime, stay here with Joan and Liz before we can figure things out," he looks over to Dekar. "Come, we have to take him."

"Wait," he questions, "we have to carry him all the way back? He weights like a ¼ of a ton?!"

With a stern stare, it doesn't take much to convince him to do it.

As they walk off, carrying their new guest into the dark. Ana is left staring with concern still, holding Havoc's knife for now.

Joan and Liz comfort her for the time. "Hey, don't worry. They'll help him, that's a promise."


	10. Ch 10 The Story

The morning sun rises over the vacant desert, shining down upon the abandoned factory. Inside, nothing stirs awake, the three beings continue to rest because of the long night before. Dimitri sleeps on a dusty mattress on the upper levels, Dekar hangs from the rafters from a tail, and Havoc hasn't moved or stirred at all yet, still passed out on another mattress. However, the peace and quiet is replaced by repeated knocking on the giant, metal doors to the building. Dekar acts like it isn't there for awhile, until it becomes unbearable and chooses to fall to the floor, not caring at all for the pain he's about to feel. Outside stand the three women, one of whom is eager to get answers about Havoc's condition. The door finally open as Dekar peeks his head out. "You know what time it is," he says while swearing under his breath.

"We know," Joan answers with haste, "but Ana wants to see the big guy."

"She hasn't slept at all through the night," Liz adds, prompting Dekar to look at Ana.

What she says is true. Ana has the characteristic baggy eyes and depressed expression on her face, struggling to stand at all. Dekar, reluctantly, lets them in, unprepared as Ana shoves him aside to get to Havoc. Without delay, she already knows where he is and climbs up one of the ladders to find him. When she does run to him, her exhaustion gets the better of her as she passes out on top of him. As Dekar lets them in, he fails to notice them staring towards his back. He looks to see his tail still out, resting lifelessly on the ground. "Oh, yeah, got a tail."

"Since…," Joan find the revelation choking her up. "Since when?!"

"Birth. I just keep it curled up and flattened against myself because, hey, people don't have tails," he waves his hands in the air before he leads them to the "dining area," coiling his tail around his body.

Everyone takes a seat at a table as Dekar starts brewing coffee, one of the many things he, somehow, brought into this factory, all being powered by a small generator and a bunch of car batteries. Dimitri finally awakens to see what's going on, noticing Ana on top of Havoc. "What's going on?"

"Awaking Beauty here couldn't sleep," Dekar fills him in. "Apparently see needs her man pillow to get any shuteye."

Dimitri joins them as they try to get themselves going while Dekar brings everyone some coffee. "Don't worry, it's decaf," he starts chuckling.

Eventually, everyone is up and start doing as they please. With it being the weekends and Joan's days off, they decide to wait for Ana to wake up and answer their questions. As they wait, Joan decides to spar with Dekar for the time being as Liz talks to Dimitri.

"How are you feeling?" she asks.

"What do you mean," he replies, "if you mean tired, yes."

"No, I mean…, how are you feeling about Havoc?"

He takes a swig of his coffee. "I don't know."

Liz looks back to get a better look at Havoc. His hair is just like Dekar's, only a deep black color. His hands are covered in scars, along with a diagonal one over his face. "Is he… like a long lost brother, or something?"

"I have a theory. From what we could gather about my father's… history, we learned that there were two other specimens."

"...And?"

"They died in the tubes, reportedly."

"Guess that was a faulty report," she leaves to get another cup of coffee. "So, is he one of those other guys?"

"No."

"Why do you say that?"

"Because he's stable."

Liz looks at Havoc again. "What do you mean?"

Dimitri begins to stand and walks towards Havoc with Liz following behind. "Look at him, he doesn't have any deformities or irregular mutations."

"I still don't understand."

"From the reports, none of our parents were… perfect, each one of them suffered from some form of ailment or abnormality. My father's body was unstable, Dekar's father's growth was flawed, and the other two, apparently, had physical and mental disorders. But look at him, he has none of that."

"What does this all mean?"

"It means he's an offspring, a result of natural birth."

"That's the problem," Dekar jumps in as he and Joan finish sparring. "It means daddy is still out there, god knows where."

"And we need to find him before he does something wrong."

Liz looks to them, finding flaws in their logic. "But… if his father is still out their, where has he been? Havoc looks older than both of you, so why hasn't anything popped up yet about one of you guys wandering about?"

"You think they were hiding from the populous? Maybe, but we still need to find him before someone else does, someone far more concerning."

Suddenly, Ana begins to wake up, only about a hour or so, but she looks like she got a full night's rest. She sees everyone surrounding her, causing her to move behind Havoc's body.

"It's alright," Dimitri calms her down. "We are doing what we can for him, but we need some answers now."

* * *

Ana begins telling her story. "It… it was about three months about. I was in foster care because my parents died in a car accident. You see, I have… depression… and they were looking for ways to help me. The medicine never helped, I never felt any better. They tried this facility up in the mountains to help me, but it only got worse. Then… one night…, I snuck out and…," she begins to cry as tears well up.

"I'm sorry…," she snivels between words. "I tried… I tried… that's when he found me. I thought he was death, but he wasn't. He nursed me back to health in an old cabin. He stayed with me, day in, day out. He saw something was wrong with me. That's when he trusted me enough to take the helmet off. I saw who he was, just from the look in his eyes. He lost family too, he knew what I felt, never being able to get over it completely. But, he taught me how to keep going, hoping to find a better life."

"He was the only person I ever known to know how I felt, like he could look into my soul. I couldn't imagine being without him. For the first time in forever, I… I felt… happy. I wanted to stay with him, I wanted to be with him. But… but…, that's when _it_ happened. They found him, these people with that… monster from the mines. He tried to save me; he took me back to the facility. At first, the doctors were in shock that I returned, but… I couldn't stay. They wouldn't let me leave because of what happened. I wanted him back, I wanted _moya lyubov'_ back."

"The soldiers. They came back and… and…, next thing I knew, everything was burning. I didn't see him, so I ran into the forest. I found him…," tears well up again, "I thought he was dead. The monster came for me. I could feel my bones break…, the blood spilling out. The last thing I remember was hearing a roar, the monster had his limbs ripped off, then nothing. I woke up to find Havoc, I.V.s connecting himself to me. I was in a hospital. After that, he took me out and… we've been running ever since. I felt… numb. Nothing physical hurt me, I felt nothing. But whenever I was with him, as long as I was with him, I felt happy."

(Line)

Everyone leaves her to sit with Havoc as they discuss what they learned. "Well," Dekar announces, "that was heavy. An old _Beauty and the Beast_ story right here. But, seriously, that felt sad."

"Yeah," Joan agrees with him. "Having to deal with depression like that, it's hard to think of what she had to live through."

"Dimitri," Liz asks, "what do you think happened to Havoc when they found him?"

"From what I could gather," Dimitri begins, "they wanted to kill him. That thing we found in his head must have been a bullet."

"What kind of bullet would lodge itself in his head?" Dekar asks.

"That's not it. From what I could find out about his physical biology, his skeleton is near indestructible; not a single bone was broken or scratched in his body after the fight. And, from the bullet, they must have used an Anti-tank round to take him down."

"Why would they have that in the middle of the forest?"

"Wouldn't you be prepared if you wanted one of us dead?"

"Fair point."

"My point is, that shot barely managed to get through and lodged in his brain, causing mental limitations. Yet, he still recognized her as a friend. Now, with the wounds healed and the hole gone, he should be more cooperative than before."

"And is he's not, we're FUCKED! … Sorry."

"But what about the blood?" Joan asked.

"He must have broken into a hospital and used his own blood to heal her. Now she's like him."

"By the way, one thing I can't figure out is this knife," Dekar pulls out the knife Havoc carried around. "I tried breaking this thing and nothing. It cuts through everything, and I _MEAN EVERYTHING,_ like nothing. Where the hell do you get a thing like this?"

"All we can do now is wait for him to wake up and, hopefully, he can fill us in on everything. Joan, Liz, you two should get home. Dekar and I can look after Ana until Havoc wakes up. It seems better if she stays with him."

"Good idea," Liz answers. They leave Dimitri and Dekar to handle this by themselves. Like Dimitri said, Havoc should be more cooperative. And if not, fuck.


	11. Ch 11 The Experiment Pt 1

_Joan's Journal Entry: 15-DS3_

 _It has been about a month since I became acquainted with Dekar, the "special case." At the moment, he and his cousin, Dimitri, are struggling to maintain their presence here ever since the incident occured. They have discovered a long lost relative, named Havoc, who's still unconscious as of this entry, and keep an eye on him until he awakens. Not only that, but they also have been coping with the appearances of super soldiers from this illegal genetic & viral mutagenic force, known as "Entity."_

 _They have learned of two soldiers: one who wields superhuman strength, speed, stamina, and endurance, as well as the ability to release clouds of, what Dimitri recognizes as, the C-Virus. The other, a goliath of monstrous proportions. At the moment, he is assumed dead, but the events of their last encounter casts doubt. That has been a week ago. Along with this, we've met a new comrade at arms, Anastacia Remi, or Ana for short. She is also a mutate, but remains human enough to go about in public without much worry._

 _However, the real reason I'm writing this journal entry is a quick update on a new experiment I'm conducting. During the events of the confrontation, Dekar's… limb was… left to scurry about on its own until reunited with its master, yet another facet of his abilities. Of the three, he's the most unstable…, and the most intriguing. Unfortunately, and I use the term loosely, his arm left stains of blood all over the trunk of my car, and I even cut myself on broken bits of its insect-like limbs in efforts to clean it. I somewhat call this unfortunate because it has given me the opportunity to study his anatomy without his knowledge. Is it illegal, yes, but so is his presence here._

 _I've managed to obtain a large enough sample to study under the microscope. The result was something I never would have guessed. The cells… weren't present, but microscopic parasitic organisms were. Every bit of the sample was comprised of these parasites, moving about in a red, viscous fluid resembling blood. And to top it all off, they were alive, no, even more, multiplying. This requires more study to better understand the role of these parasites in his body._

 _Now, of course, I'm only able to study them under lab conditions, so I've been using the lab equipment at my work. The issue is another lab assistant along with me, Harry, a good friend at work. More often than not, it's usually just us at work, bringing in data from the forest and what not. When he saw the sample I brought in, I told him a partial truth. I told him it was a colony of parasites not on record. Thankfully, he wasn't too eager to go near it, something about a phobia of creatures living off of others, but he promised not to tell anyone else, a "discoverers secret," as he put it. For now, he helps me hide the sample. I plan to check on its progress for the next entry._

 _Bye, Me_

* * *

Joan soon puts the journal away in her bag and starts heading towards her work. After about thirty minutes of driving, she comes up to the facility near the outskirts of the city, a small lab used for environmental studies and research to help maintain the environment. As she walks through the doors, she's greeted by the kind guard near the front desk before continuing to the locker rooms to leave her stuff. She heads for the upper floors of the building and walks into the Sub-Lab areas, getting her lab coat and protective goggles and gloves ready before walking it.

At the moment, she was all alone, but she knew Harry would show up soon, as with every other day.

 _He's always late._

Near the windows of the room is where her station is set up, along with the sample in storage. However, as she approaches the sample freezer, something is very wrong. Near the bottom of it is a small streak of red sludge. Something came out of the freezer. Instantly, she puts her guard up, looking over every area in the lab until her eyes land on the tables with the lab mice, each one in a separate viewing container and in a row. She finds the last one with the same streaks on it, and something moving inside, definitely not a mouse. She pulls for a scalpel and slowly walks towards the container, finding a pile of red sludge inside. As she looks at it, she notices it eating away at the straw matting all over the bottom of the container, growing in size. A thought pops into her head and she rushes over to the freezer. The only sample missing from it was her parasite sample.

Wearing as much protection as possible, she opens the panel on the lid of the container to use a thin wooden stick to agitate the specimen. Strangely, it seems very inactive, stretching about around the container. Joan soon puts the panel back and carries the container over to her station. From the fluid in the container, she takes a sample to look under the microscope. And, as before, the parasites were present again. She grows more bold and soon, using a scalpel, cuts a tissue sample from the specimen, which shows no exaggerated reaction to being cut. As before, the parasites were present. The strange thing , though, is that no blood cells, or cells of any kind, were present, just the "microsites."

Her inspection is cut short as Harry comes in, shocked to see what Joan is doing.

"H-hey, what are you doing to the mice?!"

"Nothing," she blurts out, "it's… just that…" She's cut short as Harry sees what's in the container.

"W-what is that thing?!"

"It's… the sample. It grew overnight and…"

"Wait, what happened?!"

* * *

 _Joan's Journal Entry: 15-DS4_

 _Second trials regarding the specimen. I've come to a shocking realization of what Dekar really is. Every sample of the specimen has nothing but microscopic parasites running through them, but no blood cells or anything. That's when it hit me: the specimen IS the parasites._

 _From what I gathered from Dekar's abilities, his body can change and react both on command, and without neural stimuli. It appears that his body is comprised of billions of these "microsites," as I dub them as. Like cells, she parasites come in many forms, such as for bone structure or blood; they fill the roles or both cells and organs. This explains why every sample is alive; every spec of his being is comprised of separate organisms that act as one, creating Dekar._

 _This is unbelievable! His body has microscopic organisms that can react to any disease directly, no hindrance of any sort in their design. However, this leaves more questions unanswered. How does Dekar control them? Is any part of him not made of these parasites? Is his brain intact? What makes him… him?_

 _Naturally, Harry was shocked to learn of this predicament, especially since it devoured one of his test mice. I did everything I could to apologize to him, and luckily, it worked. It was more so for the fact that he was amazed by this discovery, recognising the potential in it. If we could harness control of these organisms, they could solve the greatest challenges of the medical world. These organisms could attack anything on the cellular level, even cancer. More study is required. Hopefully, the specimen's growth will reveal more insights to its secrets and applications to medicine._

 _More later, Me_

* * *

Days go by like nothing. For most of this time, Joan has put all of her focus on studying the specimen. She's made up stories to her friends that her boss has her working like crazy in the labs, so she's less free. Now is a good time since Dimitri and Dekar are far too preoccupied looking after Havoc, seriously, when the hell is he waking up?! Harry, on the other hand, finds this less and less comfortable. With each day, the specimen grows larger, and larger, even taking the shape of something familiar, but they can't figure out what. Joan, being more use to this by now, is far less phased and uses any time she has to study it. However, she doesn't get any closer to understanding how these organisms live in such a way, or how they are being controlled.

She tried everything at her disposal to elicit a reaction: pheromones, light, chemicals, even verbal commands. But, none of it worked, the specimen shrugged off avery trial. She only succeeded in accelerating its growth. Each day, she buys pet store brand mice to feed it, which only add to its size, making it more and more difficult to keep it in its container.

Eventually, Harry nuts up and confronts Joan on the issues about the specimen. The next day, as she's walking into the facility, he calls her. "Joan," he asks, "do you think we should stop the experiments?"

"What do you mean?" she questions his idea.

"Listen, at first, I was intrigued by what you discovered, but it's proving more and more difficult to keep the staff from knowing about it. It tried breaking out of the container on several occasions after you left. I can't keep an eye on it."

"Harry, if you're worried about it, I can take it to my place and…"

"Joan, no. You can't break protocol and take specimens out of the lab. Besides, I've been doing tests on the samples you took. It infested one of the mice with itself and, within minutes, they multiplied rapidly and 'consumed' the mouse. It's too dangerous to leave like this."

"Okay, so what do you think I should do?"

"Listen, I've been working on an acidic solution to destroy it on a cellular level and…"

"WHAT?! I thought you said it could be an answer to hundreds of diseases?"  
"Joan, we shouldn't have something like this. This is something that should be under government supervision, not assistance in the lab. Look, do whatever you want, but if something happens, it has to be terminated."

Joan enters the lab, pondering what she should do. Harry has a point; the specimen has gotten out of hand to deal with as is. Plus, he's right, it shouldn't be in their hands, it really is a government experiment. But, what should she do? Should she tell Dekar about it? The questions flood in, like the idea Dekar could be spreading an infestation of this stuff through his blood, or if it becomes too dangerous to handle. The questions go on, but then, her thoughts focus on the ground. Near one of the tables, she sees a hand on the floor, appearing lifeless. Concern compels her to see what has happened. However, as she looks to the hand, she finds no body attached to it, or any pool of blood. As she reaches for the hand, it springs to life, growing insect-like limbs, just like Dekar's has done. This also explains its familiar appearance, it was growing into an arm. Things take a turn for the worst.

The arm springs for her, acting far more violent than expected, even growing a mouth ringed with teeth where the stump should be. The idea comes to her that, since it has no master, it has no way of knowing what to do. Then, without warning, it leaps for the ceiling, crawling into the air vents. Joan rushes out of the lab into the elevators, heading to the higher floors. She stops near the top and tries to find the thing. She puts her ear to the ground and hears the specimen around the walls, trying to find a way out. Her search is interrupted as she hides from sight of other lab workers. After they pass, she rushes to the walls and looks through the window. Outside, the specimen actually burrows out of the concrete and into the streets, leaving Joan feeling terrified about what she has done.

Instead of rushing to Dekar, she plans to capture the specimen and do as Harry suggested, kill it so it can't spread. The last thing she wants to do is have them worry about anything else, besides, it's just an arm. Without a master, it can't do much but wander. Her one concern is if and when it gets hungry. As casually as she can, she searches the streets for any sign of the specimen, looking all around her work and the nearby structures. Thankfully, she picks up a trail that takes her into the city. Risking looking suspicious, she leaves her car and heads out on foot to find the arm.

The fluid trail remains next to the curb of the streets, showing it wants to stay out of sight from others. The arm has gone about the area in several directions, making it all the harder to track. Eventually, she notices the arm has begun moving back towards the labs, leading out of the city and into the forests. With this knowledge, Joan rushes back to her car and begins driving out to find it. Her prediction was correct as she finds the trail near the entrance into the woods. However, something doesn't sit right as she follows it through on foot. As hours go by, the trail takes her to more and more familiar places, none of which is good as it points her to one spot, the abandoned mining plant.

It's already getting dark out, but she can't leave it now. The best she can do is follow it into the pit and hope to find it fast. With a large plastic bag, she hopes to rap it up in it and keep it in her car, now deciding to simply toss it into a fire when she has a chance. She carefully climbs down into the pit, the fall big enough to really hurt her. With the flashlight on her phone, she searches the area for any trails. The most recent, it seems, leads into the building closest to the mines where the rocks were ground up on conveyor belts. Joan finds the entrance into the building, finding half of it ground against the walls of the pit when it slid down. She already hears noises coming from something inside. Soon, she spots the arm near the windows of the building.

As she approaches the arm, she notices the stump end pointed towards the window, as if it's looking through it. She sneaks slowly towards it, but a squeak from the old panelling alerts it, causing it to turn and look at her. She's greeted by a large, red eye above the stump, showing it _is_ looking around. It charges towards her, but she manages to snag it in the bag. She immediately begins rapping it up as tight as possible to stop it. Although she succeeds in capturing it, she soon learns about what the arm was looking at. From outside, she can hear people shuffling outside, along with equipment being used. She ducks down under the windows before peeking above the sill to see who's outside. She sees a group of armed men digging through the rubble, their faces obscured by masks.

"Who are they?" she says to herself. She gathers that they're digging through the rubble caused by the fight Dekar told her about, the rocks showing blood splattered over them.

Staying as quiet as possible, she listens to anything she can hear from them. Most of their words are lost in subtext, but what she can gather is they're "looking for samples." Her stay is cut short as the arm starts poking holes through the bag and claws its way out. It jumps to the floor and rushes for the door. Joan looks down to see it running back now, along with the approaching footsteps of the soldiers. She ducks behind the equipment as two men walk in, aiming their flashlights around the room.

"Search the upper level," one of them tells the other. They split up as one of them walks up to the catwalk, coming closer and closer to Joan's location. She begins shaking with fear as he stands right behind the machine she's hiding on. Thankfully, is attention is diverted as the soldier on the ground begins struggling before he becomes silent.

"Walks going on?" he calls to him, but he gets no response.

He rushes downstairs to see what happened, only to meet the same fate.

Joan leaves her hiding spot and finds the men dead, blood leaking from their necks, and the arm around them. Joan comes down to find the arm knows what's happening, gesturing for her to grab their guns. However, she's finding it difficult to do so.

 _W-what?! I can't shoot someone, I never even held a gun before!?_

However, her mind is made up as the sound of the remaining men show they're taking notice of the two men not checking back. She reluctantly takes one of their handguns and sneaks away as fast as she can. The arm leads her around the buildings, out of sight of the men. Suddenly, a shot is fired near her, causing her to drop to the ground in shock. They see her and rush in. She dives behind cover as they fire at her, keeping her pinned. "Don't let her escape," the lead one sounds off.

Joan tries to fire back at them, but on the first shot, she drops the gun in shock. The firing stops as they approach with caution. Joan, now terrified, looks to where the arm is for it's aid, but it's gone.

As the men approach, one of them stops in his tracks, his arms falling to his sides. The others turn to him to find him regain his composure and, without warning, fires at them. He takes two men down, leaving the others to fire back and riddle him with bullet holes. Before his body slumps to the ground, the arm rips its way through his torso from the back and lunges for them. They shout at each other to capture it, but it winds around them with ease. Joan takes the opportunity and runs for the walls to climb out of the pit. She starts climbing out, knowing she's taken this too far. However, one of the men sees her and rushes to stop her. He takes aim and shoots at her, but the arm lunges for his neck, causing him to lose his shot.

Unfortunately, as Joan raises her right arm to finally reach the rim, the bullets hit her, leaving a bloody line on her arm. In utter shock, she loses her grip and falls, leaving a blood trail above her. Her body slams onto the ground, bones cracking under the force, the blood landing right on top of her as the shock numbs her senses. In her final moments before losing consciousness, she raises her arm to find it taken off, nothing but a stump now.


	12. Ch 12 The Experiment Pt 2

Joan finds herself in a dark void, unable to move or to speak. She stares off into the blackness, waiting for something to happen. Not long after, a light begins to shine from the void, engulfing the black background and her vision. Soon, she begins to feel her body laying on something, a voice calling out to her lightly, growing louder. Eventually, she awakens from her stuper, squinting as light is shined into her face. The light moves away as she sees Dekar moving a flashlight around. "Joan," he starts asking for a response, "you alright? Do you remember who I am?"

Joan starts bending her arms and stretching her legs, gathering insight into where she is. Suddenly, images of her last moments flash by; she remembers her arm being shot off. She shoots up and starts tapping at her right arm, finding it's alright, but how?

"D-Dekar," she begins stuttering, "w-what happened to me?"

"Easy, easy, breath," he inhales slowly and exhales, "just look at me, you're alright, you're alright."

Joan starts taking in deep breaths, doing as he says, but she's still panicking about what happened.

"Okay…, now listen. I know what you did."

She looks at him with guilt. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't… I shouldn't have taken that sample. It was dumb and…, wait…, where is it?"

"It's back with me, but that's not important right now. Just tell me… what do you remember?"

Joan sits to the right side of the bed she's resting on, rubbing her forehead like she just finish dealing with a massive hangover. She looks around to see she's in the abandoned factory hideout, with Havoc still passed out on the top floors. "I… I remember seeing armed guards by the mining facility. They were looking for samples, then they…," she looks at her arm, "they killed me, or something; they shot my arm off and I fell and…,"

"Okay, breath," Dekar tries calming her down again. "Okay, now what happened was an induced hallucination."

"An… induced… what?"

"It's a defense mechanism. That specimen you had was making you see things with a chemical it produces. You started seeing things and acting like things were real. This happened with other people who tried studying me, but the affects should be gone now, it's out of your system, you're good."

"I-I don't understand, I thought I fell from the cliff?"

"I felt the arm's presence and rushed over. I found you just standing in place staring into nothing. I took you back and waited for you to wake up."

Joan starts standing up, wobbly at first, but with Dekar's help, she's able to get herself going. She stumbles over to the "kitchen" table and takes a seat, feeling up her right arm constantly. Dekar takes a seat across from her and hands her a water bottle. "Don't worry, just keep drinking water, get your strength back, and you should be good. I just want to warn you, though. From now on, stay away from the pit. Frankly, it has brought nothing but grief for us, okay?"

Joan takes the water bottle and starts drinking. Dekar looks on as she keeps drinking, and drinking, and drinking, until it's empty, before she finally answers "okay" before breathing in.

She clutches her stomach, feeling her hunger starting to grow. "Do you have anything to eat? I'm starving."

"Uh, sure," he walks over to the fridge, "let me see."

Dekar brings out a ham sandwich and Joan scarfs it down, trying to satiate her hunger. "How long was I out?"

"Only about a day or so."

Joan questions his response, feeling like she hasn't eaten in a week. Dekar notices this and heads back to the fridge, bringing out a large trifle bowl. He brings it over with some plates and scoops out a portion for her. "Try this, it tastes great."

"What's in it?"

"Uh… lady fingers, custard, jam, beef, peas, powderized funyuns, and I forget the rest.

She hesitates for a moment, worrying about trying… what he thinks is a trifle, but her hunger gets the better of her. Shockingly, she doesn't waste any time and cleans her plate. Dekar finds this concerning, but hopes it's just a case of the munchies. He gives her another two servings, and they go down without any problem. Joan, even though she still feels hungry, decides to stop and takes her leave. "Thank you for the meal, but I should get going."

"Are you sure?" Dekar tries convincing her to stay. "You can stay if you want."

"I shouldn't be anymore trouble, especially since you guys are still waiting for him," she looks up to Havoc.

"Yeah, but at least I can talk to you."

"I'm sorry, I just want to put this day behind me, okay?"

Dekar looks too concerned for her safety. "At least let me drive you home."

"Okay, that's fair."

* * *

Joan tries sleeping the day off after Dekar brought her back to her place, but the feeling of hunger keeps her up. Along with hunger, her arm continues to irritate her, feeling itchy constantly. As she tosses and turns, the door opens with Liz and Ana's return. They call out for her, worried about what happened to her. "Joan," Liz calls out, "are you home?"

"I'm over here," Joan calls out from her room.

Liz comes in, exhaling in relief as she sees her. "Thank god, you're alright. I thought you got taken or something."

"Sorry about that," Joan answers. "Did Dekar tell you what happened?"

"He said you got really sick and collapsed in the forest. Are you okay?"

"No," she lets out a grunt, "I feel starving."

"Oh, do you want something?"

"No, I just had enough for lunch and dinner, and I don't want to just pig out."

"Joan," Liz begins to worry, "are you sure you're alright?"

"I'm sorry," Joan gets up and looks to her. "I just don't feel right. I just need to sleep it off, that's all."

Liz steps out of the room and closes the door. Ana pulls her aside for a moment. "Are you sure she's alright?"

"I don't know," Liz starts pacing back and forth, thinking about what to do. "Let's go see Dimitri, he might know what's wrong."

* * *

Back in the factory, Dekar sits alone at the table, snacking on a whole watermelon. His teeth begin to protrude as his mouth stretches wide and clamps down on the watermelon, crushing it, leaving juice to splash around him. As he swallows it, he can hear Dimitri outside. He looks out the windows to see him coming with concern in his eyes, a sign that he wants answers.

"Shit," Dekar mutters under his breath, failing to notice movement on the upper floors. A pipe falls to the ground and catches his attention. He looks up to see Havoc is gone from his bed, prompting him to race up the ladder in distress. However, the moment he reaches the top rung, a hand grabs him by the neck and yanks him up. Havoc stares at him as he struggles to release himself. Havoc notices how similar he is to himself, failing to notice Dimitri stepping in to witness this.

Dekar immediately slams his foot against Havoc, causing him to drop him and fall to the ground. Dekar regains his footing as Havoc drops down, cracking the floor as he makes contact. Dimitri rushes to his side, seeing if he's aggressive. Havoc looks to him in frustration.

"Calm down," Dimitri asks, "we just want to talk."

Havoc goes for him, but Dekar grabs him by the neck behind him, jumping onto his back.

"Don't do that," Dimitri yells at him, "you're making him mad."

"He's already pissed off," Dekar exclaims as Havoc grabs him by the head and flips him off. With great force, he kicks him into Dimitri. Dekar stands and they stare down the towering relative, more aggravated now. However, things calm down as Liz and Ana arrive to see what's going on. Havoc sees Ana and immediately runs passed them, picking her up and hugging her with relief. Dimitri and Dekar stare on as this once menacing killer turns soft and starts talking.

" _Moya lyubov', ty v poryadke! YA ne mogu v eto poverit'. YA snova chuvstvuyu sebya!"_

" _Moya lyubov',"_ Ana answers him, " _ne volnuysya. Eti lyudi - tvoya sem'ya, oni spasli tebya i menya. YA tak schastliv, chto ty v poryadke."_

Havoc puts her down and turns to the two cousins. He walks up to them and looks them down. He starts muttering and trying to speak. " _F...family?"_

Dimitri steps up to him and answers. "Yes. You can trust us. My name is…," he's cut off as both he and Dekar are pulled into a bear hug, feeling like they're being squeezed to death.

"Can't… breath," Dekar utters before he puts them down.

Things calm down as Havoc enjoys his reunion with his _lyubov'_ while Dekar plays off the encounter. "Hehe, glad that's cleared up," he looks to Dimitri. "Sooo… what's up?"

"What happened with Joan?" Dimitri wastes no time, pulling him to the table.

Dekar ponders over what to say before answering. "Long story short, she took a sample of me."

"And?"

"... She grew it in a lab."

Dimitri steps aside for a moment, irritated by the realization. He comes back to him after taking a deep breath. "Where is it?"

"It's back with me, reabsorbed and everything," Dekar speaks to him as calmly as possible, seeing how anxious he's becoming.

"Did it do anything to Joan?"

"No, just used a defensive chemical. It's alright, though, the chemical should be out of her system by now."

"She isn't doing too well, though," Liz steps in. "She says her right arm is getting itchy and she has these unnatural cravings. I'm worried it's hurting her."

"There's nothing else we can do, I'm afraid," Dekar makes his point clear. "I've seen this before. All we can do is wait for it to pass. How bout I go stay with her until she gets better."

Dekar begins standing out of his chair before Dimitri stops him. "I think it's better if I go check on her. You stay here and watch Havoc and Ana," he looks to Liz. "Liz, would you like to come with me?"

She nods in agreement and Dekar is unable to go against Dimitri's judgment. However, as he looks on as they leave, he starts feeling uneasy about the situation, clutching his chest with anxiety.

 _Calm down… calm down. It's fine, nothing will happen. Nothing will happen… nothing._

* * *

A couple hours have passed, Joan feels the hunger welling up inside of her, and her arm is still irritating her, causing her to scratch at it vigorously. She finally gives in and rushes to the kitchen, opening the fridge and taking out anything she can find. For a moment, she takes a breath and stops herself from going crazy. She pulls together a simple sandwich and starts eating. In no time, it's gone. However, she still feels hungry and makes another, more sloppy one, but it's eaten too. Her hunger still grows, making her forget about the formalities and scarf down whatever she has. Eventually, half the fridge is gone, her hunger finally satiated. In the aftermath, she groans over the fact that she acted like an animal. However, something isn't right.

She heads over to the bathroom and looks at herself in the mirror. After everything she's done, the scratching and the gorging, she looks normal. She lifts her shirt and sees it isn't fattened up or anything. In fact, she notices she's looking more fit than before, developing a bit of muscle, even with the training she went through with Dekar. She doesn't have any rashes from her scratching either; her arm looks find. The images flash through her mind again, the stump she thought she had.

 _It felt so real. But… Dekar said… he said…_

Joan wanders over to the living room couch and sits staring at the t.v. turned off. Her thoughts are scattered, the whole day seems impossible, she thought she was dead, but she's fine. She's snapped out of it when a knock comes from the door. She opens it to see Dimitri. "Oh, hey," she greets him.

"May I come in?" he asks.

She stands aside and lets him in, along with Liz behind him. They take a seat at the table across from Joan.

"Joan," Dimitri starts, "we're worried about your… condition after the incident. We're doing this because we're your friends and we want to help. So please, tell us, do you remember anything about what happened?"

"Well…," Joan recollects her thoughts, "Dekar said I was hallucinating in the mining factory."

"And what did you see?"

"I saw armed men at the sight. They were searching for something, 'samples' as they said. The arm started growing an eye or something. Next thing I know, I'm running from the men and started climbing up the wall. One guy shot my arm off and I fell. Dekar said I was just standing in place when he found me."

"And how do you feel now?"

"I felt… hungry, but…," she looks back to the kitchen for the moment, "I'm fine now. The cravings stopped, along with the itching."

"And when did you get better?"

"Just now when you got here?"

"May I see your arm?"

"Sure," Joan outstretches her right arm to Dimitri, splaying it out on the table.

Dimitri taps at her arm in several places. Next, he extends one of his nails as a long, pointed tip and taps at the nerves in her hand. "Your reactions seem fine," he stops for a moment and stares at the skin. Joan begins to feel nervous, thinking that he found something important. However, he pulls away without much to say. "You seem fine right now, but if anything happens over these few days, you have to let us know, okay?"

"Okay."

Dimitri takes his leave, letting Liz know that Ana will be back tomorrow. She says goodbye and closes the door, walking back to Joan who's still sitting at the table. She sits with her and asks her one last question. "Joan, do _you_ feel something is wrong with you? Do you want to go to the hospital just in case?"

"No," she answers calmly, "I'll just do as Dimitri says and wait for anything to happen. Besides, if something is wrong, I don't think regular doctors can help me."


End file.
